What is the Goliath?
by sarasponda
Summary: The Leviathan finally lands in Japan.  Deryn finds herself in some embarrassing situations and we learn some secrets about Alek's past.
1. Chapter 1

"Blisters!" Deryn swore, then stuck her bleeding thumb into her mouth, sucking at the new sharp pain. She realized she had stabbed herself with the sewing needle. Poking it through the tough leather of the jacket was hard work and she had poked it a little too hard and into her thumb by accident. After a few moments she checked to see if it was still bleeding, then continued to sew.

Thank god she was almost done with the blasted jacket. It had been Alek's, and he had gladly given it to her when she admitted the other day that she had no more dress clothes. He had simply pulled out his trunk, removing dozens of wealthy, princely outfits, and handed her a beautiful leather jacket with gold trim. When she refused to take it, he insisted, saying he had plenty.

_Awful difficult being a barking prince_. She thought to herself. After a few more painful stitches she stood up put the coat on. It fit almost perfectly. Except when she tried to button it in the front, it was too tight.

"Damn." She swore again. Her breasts had doubled in size over the past month. They still were nothing huge, but it was enough to make her need to re-sew all her uniforms. On top of that, her monthly cycles had started for the first time. So, not only did she have to tie a tight cloth around her chest to hide unnecessary bulging, but she was also extra irritable and plagued with nasty tummy cramps. It was as if her body was destined to betray her secret after she had worked so hard to keep herself as a boy.

Luckily no one had figured it out yet except Volger. And even having him knowing was too much. She swore to herself again, imagining how easy it was for him to blackmail her. Carefully she removed the coat and sat on the floor to continue her stitches.

"Sewing again Mr. Sharp?" Someone asked from the doorway. Dr. Barlow had let herself in. She was dressed in her finest dress and her hat was adorned with a bright peacock feather. "It's awful early to be working so hard."

Deryn jumped. "Aye ma'am," she said, "but one needs to be ready, and I was too excited to sleep anyways." The boffin smiled.

"I can see that. But I would ask you to hurry and finish your work. We're to be landing shortly, and we wouldn't want to keep the ambassadors waiting." With that she turned and clopped on her fancy heals back down the hallway to her own bed chambers.

Deryn sighed. It had been two weeks since they left Istanbul, and finally, this afternoon they would be landing outside of Tokyo. She stood and put the jacket back on. It wasn't much better, but it would have to do for now. She had to look presentable for assisting the lady boffin when she met with the ambassadors of Japan. Apparently there were three of them; one from Britain, another from France and surprisingly a man from Germany. Dr. Barlow planned on meeting with all three in order to discuss a new peace treaty, and Deryn was supposed to accompany her. After stuffing the sewing kit into her duffel bag, Deryn took the remainder of her sparse clothing and folded them in as well. She then headed down to the mess hall, hopeful to grab a bight to eat before the arrival.

The ramp from the _Leviathan _to the ground was crowded with the majority of the ship's crew. Everyone was trying to catch a glimpse of the ambassadors and hopeful of something as posh as the clanker contraptions that had welcomed them in Istanbul. But there were no lavish elephantes or tall walkers on the dock, only a simple horse drawn carriage with a few people walking along side it. Deryn shoved her way through the crowd to stand beside Alek who was waiting with the boffin and Volger at the bottom of the ramp.

"Dylan," He beamed, "It's good to see that you have joined my family!"

"What?" She sputtered. He giggled and pointed to her chest. There, beside the large gold buttons over her heart was a large Hapsburg crest embroidered into the leather. "How….?" She was speechless, how did she not notice the stupid barking emblem now blatantly stretched so close to her chest. Be it her to have something so large and obvious emphasizing her new disgusting boobs.

"It's alright." Alek grinned. "We are visiting some old family friends today, I'm sure they will not care."

"I thought we were going to see the ambassadors?" She asked.

"Make that just one ambassador." Dr. Barlow suddenly interrupted. "The others refuse to meet if the German ambassador is present." She looked very annoyed.

"Just one!" Came a small squeaky voice. Bovril was perched on Alek's shoulder looking quite delighted with the new setting. Volger gave a disgusted snort.

"I doubt that the ambassador of Germany will even consider meeting with us if we keep carrying around godless monstrosities."

"Well, he's already here, so we best make a good impression." Barlow replied, scratching Bovril on the head. Beside her, Tazza gave an agreement with a chipper bark.

Deryn moved her eyes back to the horse drawn buggy before them. The doors of the carriage were opened and a young woman, dressed in a beautiful pale pink gown gracefully discharged herself from the vehicle and walked over to them. She had lovely dark brown curls and porcelain skin, and when she moved closer, Deryn noticed that she had large crystal blue eyes. Also, to Dylan's heartache, she noticed that Alek was blushing.

"Lady Elsie!' He grinned, "It is wonderful to see you again!"

"As are you, Alek!" She curtsied and smiled back. Volger gave a polite bow.

"I see that your father is not present, Miss Elsie?"

"No, I'm afraid that the ambassador had another matter that he had to attend to. I'm here in his place to escort you to the manor." She then said something in German, in which all of them, except Deryn, laughed at.

Deryn looked angrily at Alek. "Who is she?" She muttered.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he flustered, "Elsie this is Dylan Sharp, a midshipman aboard the _Leviathan, _and Doctor Nora Barlow you have heard about." The boffin gave a small nod and Alek continued. "Dylan, Miss Barlow, this is Lady Elsie Adaliz Eberhardt, and my err,….. betrothed."


	2. Chapter 2

Deryn's jaw dropped. She looked at Alek and noticed that his face had turned a deep shade of scarlet and he was staring nervously at his feet. The boffin looked slightly shocked and Volger looked Deryn in the eye and gave an evil knowing smirk.

"You're barking ENGAGED?" She stammered. The girl next to them giggled.

"I wouldn't say that." She replied for him. "We had a betrothal agreement between us written about four years ago, but nothing permanent as an engagement has been discussed in full," She then looked at Alek with a wink, "as of yet."

Deryn couldn't speak. She just kept looking between the two. Even if it wasn't actually a bloody permanent engagement, it still sounded like a pretty serious commitment to her. No wonder Alek was so nonchalant about Lilit. Why should he care if a pretty girl in Istanbul didn't fancy him when he had this gorgeous dame waiting for him in Japan? And not just some barking dame, but the daughter of the flipping German Ambassador as well.

"Well, I think we had best be on our way." Doctor Barlow stated, interrupting the long awkward pause. Soon, Lady Elsie had them all piled into her horse drawn buggy and trotting down a wide dirt road. Deryn was unfortunately sitting next to the new girl and therefore had ample view of her slender waist and perfect hourglass proportioned chest and hips. It made her gag.

"Enlighten me," Dr. Barlow said suddenly, giving Elsie a long hard stare while adjusting her bowler hat, "how is it that you, being a German, are not giving Alek up to the German government? I have to say, when the Count told me that the Hapsburgs were close with the German Ambassador, I was quite surprised."

Elsie flashed a sweet smile and replied "My family has known Alek's forever. We were friends growing up back when I lived in Frankfurt. They made sure we visited at least every Christmas. You could say we are almost related."

"We are related." Alek said grudgingly. He was still not making eye contact with anyone and currently was staring out the window at the passing scenery.

"Very distantly," She continued. "My Father and Alek's were cousins."

_Well that's just barking gross._ Deryn thought. She remembered back to her Darwinist lessons how genes could become messy when inbreeding was involved. If Alek did end up marrying this girl, then they could have flipper children, or so her mother used to say. She could tell that Doctor Barlow was also not too keen about the news.

"I realize that traditions may be different in your families," she said, "but my studies have found some nasty troubles can arise from keeping a small gene pool."

Volger gave the boffin a sneer. "Don't go filling their minds with your godless filth." He blurted. "The Hapsburgs come from a strong line of leaders directly descending from Roman Empire with blood ties dating back all the way to Christ himself. It is very important to keep the blood strong, and within a certain royal boundary."

Deryn snorted. Well that sounded like a load of blether. "So Alek has to marry his cousin so that his kids stay related to Jesus? I'm sorry, but didn't Alek's dad already mess that plan up when he went and married his Ma?" They all glared at her, even Alek pulled his eyes away from the window to give her a long angry stare. She realized then that she had said too much.

"Second cousin." Elsie Corrected her. Her smile was completely gone. "And we realize that Alek's family history is not perfect. And that's why he needs to marry me; to strengthen his bloodline in order for his children to be able to inherit the crown."

"Pardon me?" Alek finally spoke, "But I thought your father refused the marriage contract for the exact opposite reason, because our children would not be able to inherit anything. I'm the heir to nothing, remember?" He was furious. The redness had returned to his face and Deryn had heard a low commanding tone in his voice that was downright frightening.

Elsie didn't answer. She just shrugged and put on another smile.

"I'm sorry, but you still didn't answer my question." Doctor Barlow interrupted, "You are still a German, Miss Elsie, and I'm quite certain that your father has loyalties to his country before his loyalties to Alek and his family. Surely you must have to turn him in?"

Elsie shrugged again. "There are certain things that the German government cannot learn about when we are all the way over here in Japan. You forget that you are in a Darwinist country now, which has just declared war on Germany. My father and I are stuck in a country filled with enemies, we are like prisoners. If we say anything, or do anything that the Japanese people do not like, it could end in tragedy for us. So certain arrivals of Austrian Princes have to remain secret for our safety's sake."

Dr. Barlow nodded. The group sat in silence for the remainder of the trip. Even Bovril was strangely quiet. Deryn allowed herself to examine the world outside her carriage window as they drove past. The buildings were strangely symmetrical, and built mainly out of wood and stone. They had odd flat roofs with points coming up in the corners and large gardens adorning the yards. They must have been in a very wealthy neighborhood, because all the buildings were immensely large. The yard work looked painstakingly cared for with elegantly groomed trees and ponds. She even saw garden workers trimming the trees with tiny clippers, carefully and slowly removing each uneven growing bud. Even though it was late spring it must have just snowed the night before, because she saw several workers brushing off fresh snow from the pathways and plants. Either than the workers there were very few people out and about and it seemed that the neighborhood was almost uninhabited.

Eventually they stopped in front of a four story building with a tall spear shaped tower on top. Each floor was smaller than the last making the building resemble a large oriental wedding cake. A butler greeted them at the door and Deryn and the rest were ushered into a large sitting room with lavish couches. It was dark and drafty inside, but the butler offered them some hot tea and Deryn settled into a very soft armchair.

They sat for a few minutes and discussed some things in German that she couldn't understand. Alek still looked furious. He didn't include himself in the conversation and didn't touch his tea once. When Elsie finally asked him a question he slammed the cup onto the short table in front of him, spilling the contents on his sleeves.

"NIEN!" he yelled. Then in English, "No, I am not alright, in fact I feel rather ill. If you will kindly excuse me, I think I need to lie down." He then stood and hastily exited the room in a huff. Everyone stared after him for a moment before Elsie said,

"Well, I think it best than if I show you to your rooms. You all must be tired from your trip. I will have the cook prepare us something for dinner and you can all freshen up a bit before that. Perhaps everyone will feel better after a good meal." She then motioned for the butler who led Volger and Deryn the way Alek had left, while she stayed to talk to the boffin. They were led up two staircases and down a dusty cold hallway. The butler unlocked a large wooden door and ushered Deryn in. He then bowed and led Volger away without another word, closing the door behind them.

Deryn was appalled by it all. She had never seen Alek so angry. Plus, Elsie seemed like a very odd young woman. Beautiful, yes, but she knew way too much and she was German.

She allowed herself to forget about Alek and Elsie for a moment, and examined the room around her. It was very dark, even this early in the afternoon, so she had to light a small oil lamp that was situated on the desk which omitted a cozy warm glow. As much as she loved the _Leviathan_, the glowworm lamps were not nearly as nice as a simple flame. The room itself was large, larger than any bedroom on the ship. In the center was a huge four post double bed with a half dozen pillows and feather blankets. It was definitely European in style and so was most of the furniture in the room. Off in the corner was a smaller room, which on further discovery she realized was a personal bathroom. Not only was there a toilet, but the bath was connected to the wall in a way that she could turn a spout and instantly there was hot water flowing into it from the wall. She marveled at it in delight before throwing off her clothes and jumping into the marvelous warm water.

It had been weeks since she had taken a proper bath, probably not since she was in London. The _Leviathan_ had only small showers that you had to rinse off fast in because water was a precious commodity when on board. And they were never this lovely hot. She found some bath oils and salts on the edge of the tub that looked like they hadn't been used in years. But they smelled wonderful when she opened them and she didn't waste any time dumping some flowery oil into her hair and giving it a nice good scrub. She soaked for a good hour or so before finally getting out of the tub and drying off. It seemed foolish to put back on her dirty officer clothes, so she opened up her bag and pulled on some boys' trunks and her cloth strap that she used to wrap up her breasts.

She was too exhausted to put on more clothes, and it could be hours until dinner, so it seemed best to just take a nap for now. Besides, she had stayed up all last night sewing and deserved a good long nap. After blowing out the lamp she hopped into bed, pulling all the blankets on top of her. They smelled like old moth balls and dust, but she didn't care. The moment she closed her eyes she had fallen into blissful sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

It was late and Alek finally decided that he couldn't sit and pout in his room for the rest of the night. He was miserably hungry and Bovril was starting to get on his nerves. The Loris had torn apart his suitcase and was pointing to everything with a Hapsburg crest on it.

"Family? Family, family, family…..family." It muttered every time it found one of the emblems. Alek sighed and rose from his bed. The day had gone absolutely awful. He had been excited that morning when he learned that he would see Elsie again, but the actual meeting was much less then what he expected.

Elsie had always been his favorite cousin. She was beautiful, charming and smart. When they were little she was always getting him into trouble, but he had adored her all the same. He had always looked up to her as a kind of role model since she was a few years older then him. They had a connection as well because Elsie also did not have a perfect family blood history. Her father had married a Polish princess, who was later discovered to have Jewish heritage. Luckily for them the Eberhardts were related to the Hapsburgs through a female aunt and they had only been able to produce daughters. Elsie and her sisters didn't have to worry about their inheritance because, being women, they would gain whatever titles came with their husbands.

When Alek was twelve and it came the time to look for possible brides, Elsie had been his first choice. His parents were delighted to set up the marriage, glad that their son would be able to marry someone he chose himself. Unfortunately, after the contract had been signed, Elsie's father changed his mind, saying that he couldn't let his daughter marry a man with no royal inheritance. It had been a personal blow to Alek's father, and he had refused to meet with the Eberhardts ever again. Afterward, Elsie and her family had moved to Japan and Alek hadn't heard from them since.

He remembered bits and pieces of various Christmas celebrations he had shared with Elsie over his childhood. How she would talk him into stealing food from the kitchens, or taking his mother's jewelry for her. There was always some mischief she insisted that Alek perform, and he had willingly obeyed her every time. He would of course be caught and punished, but it all seemed worth it in the end for a wink or a kiss on the cheek from his dazzling cousin.

Hell, he was still falling for her, even now. Alek had gladly let her make a fool out of him today. She knew how to annoy him just enough to send him over the edge. This time she was going on about how she may even marry him this time.

But there was no way he was going to fall for it again. He was fed up with the girl's trickery, and he wasn't going to let her win. Especially today, on this special day.

He rose from the bed and stalked out of the room, leaving Bovril to continue over his clothes. At least he could have nice dinner and get to see Dylan. It would be good to see a friendly face, and the middie always had a way of cheering him up. However when he arrived in the dining room, there was no one else present except Elsie and a large assortment of fancy food.

"Hello Alek." She stood to greet him. God did she look lovely. She had changed into an elegant silver silk kimono and her hair tumbled down over her shoulders in long twisting ringlets. Alek found himself shamefully blushing again and his heart did a back flip.

_What's wrong with you, you dummpkof. _ He thought to himself. This was ridiculous.

"Where is everyone?" He asked her.

"Doctor Barlow and the Count have already eaten; I sent them away so we could have a private dinner ourselves." She walked closer to him. He could see the diamond earrings glimmering through her hair.

"What about Dylan?" He asked. Elsie frowned.

"Your friend never came down to eat. The Doctor said he had a long night so it was probably best to let him alone." Alek groaned. Dylan wasn't going to be there, which had been his entire reason for coming down. "Do sit down," Elsie continued, "I had the cook make your favorites, being that it is a very important day for you." She seated herself in the middle of the table, and gave Alek a mischievous grin. He felt his stomach give a ravenous grumble as he examined the food on the table. There were meat pies, Polish sausages and potatoes as well as some salmon and lobster. He couldn't help but sit down opposite of her and begin to fill his plate.

"Is there any Streuselkuchen?" He asked. That had always been his absolute favorite.

"The peasant dessert?" Elsie asked, scrunching up her nose. "I would hope not. How about we have a drink before the meal?" She gestured to a servant who entered with a large open bottle of champagne. He filled Alek's glass before he could reply. "A toast," Elsie said, raising her own full glass of bubbly, "to our families." They clinked the glasses together and Alek gladly drained his in an instant. As soon as he put it down, Elsie was filling it again herself. "You had the kindest family, Alek." She said, "I am so sorry that they are no longer with us."

"Yes, me too." He said, sipping the next glass of champagne.

"I can't imagine how hard it must have been for you when they were killed."

"It was very hard." He said, putting the glass down and starting on his food.

"Could you tell me what happened?" She suddenly asked.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, how were they killed? I never got the full story, only pieces of gossip here and there." She was looking at him sadly; her big blue eyes open as wide as they could go.

"Well, their food was poisoned." Alek said. He didn't feel like going into all the specific details just now. "It was blamed on the Serbians, but we're pretty sure that the Germans organized it to start the war." He felt himself shaking. He hadn't retold the story since he had told Dylan the night they were on egg duty together. It made him relive the moment he had heard about their deaths. He picked up his champagne and had a few more gulps.

"How horrible for you." She said softly. "Here, have another drink." He realized then that he had finished his second glass and she had to refill it again.

"Elsie, may I ask you a question?" He said.

"Of course Alek, anything."

"Why did you tell them I had to marry you? Earlier today, in the carriage. You told everyone that I had to marry you for my children's sake." She was silent for a moment, thinking.

"I don't want to discuss it Alek. It will just make you upset." He felt his anger purge into his face. Slowly he finished his third glass of champagne then looked Elsie directly in the eye.

"I can't marry you Elsie, remember, your father refused. I'm not good enough for you!" Even now, after four years, the pain of knowing she wouldn't be his bride was coming back to him. And it wasn't because he had loved her, but because she had betrayed him. Her family was just like the rest. They considered him as nothing more than the offspring of a backwards marriage.

"If we had been married, your blood would have been enough and I could have been Archduke. But instead, I remained who I am now, and my parents are now dead for it." He knew it didn't make sense. But somehow, he had to find a reason that he caused his parents' death, and the fact that he was just a prince and not an archduke seemed to be the most logical idea. "and now you have the nerve to tell me that you want to marry me again?" He was screaming now, and the servants had come out of the kitchen to watch. He gave them an angry glare, and stood. The room gave a nasty lurch to the side like he was standing on a tipping boat.

"Alek, calm down, there's no reason to get this upset." She said sternly. "Sit down, eat your dinner, and we'll discuss this nicely."

"I'm not hungry anymore." He said then pushed himself away from the table.

"That's fine." She said, "Why don't we go upstairs and have Minny play us some piano? We could have a few drinks and….."

"NO!" Alek interrupted her. He turned and snatched the bottle of champagne off the table, and with a few unsteady steps started toward the door. "I think I will be having a few drinks by myself, thank you, and please don't follow me Elsie, I have had a horrible day." And with one last look, he marched out of the room and stumbled up a staircase away from fancy dinning room.

_and the plot thickens. This may be getting a bit confusing, so let me know if you need me to clear things up a bit. Thanks for reading!_


	4. Chapter 4

There was a large crash as something pushed through the door into the bedroom. Deryn immediately was awoken and sat straight up in her bed. Someone had stumbled into her room and had fallen onto the floor beside her.

"WHa….GOD DAMMIT, WHO IS THAT?" She belted, pulling the covers up to her chin. The room was completely dark, so all she could see was a shadowy figure curled up on the ground.

"Entschuldigung…" Came a mumble from the ground followed by a large amount of giggling.

"Alek? Is that you? Blisters are you alright?" She hastily grabbed for the window blinds above the bed and pulled them open. To her surprise the sun was down and stars were already out. How long had she been asleep?

The mumbling continued. "Mein kopf schmerzt. Ich glaube, ich bin betrunken. _Giggle giggle, snort._" Deryn quickly lit the lamp beside the bed since the window was not helping light the room at all. Alek was lying on the floor, one hand over his forehead and the other holding a half empty bottle of champagne.

"Bloody Hell Alek, what did you do?" She began to get out of bed, but quickly realized the scant amount of clothing she had on and that her bag of clothes was back in the bathroom. Alek sat up and began fiddling with the buckles on his boots.

"Mir helfen… stiefel."

"Okay, you're gonna have to stop with the Clanker talk, cause I can't understand a word you just said."

"Hilfe!" He began to pull off his boots.

"Yeah Alek, but…."

"Ich bin betrunken! Mir helfen!" He raised his voice and glared at her.

"STOP SPEAKING IN BLOODY GERMAN!" She yelped. He stared at her for a moment, looking like he was trying to remember how to speak English. Then hit himself in the forehead with his free hand.

"I need help withen my bootsen." He finally sputtered. Deryn would normally have helped him, but being in the undressed state that she was, she couldn't.

"Why do you need to take off your boots?"

"Ummm… I don't actually, I just, I don't know…" He attempted to pull one off, got it about halfway, then tipped over while spilling the champagne and exploding into another fit of laughter. Blisters, he was pissed drunk. She was so shocked she almost laughed herself.

"You really are a ninny. A drunk ninny. What on earth made you drink so much?"

Another fit of giggles. "It'sth meine geburtsday."

"What? Seriously?"

"Ya." He looked a little sad now and took long pull from the bottle. "I turnen 16 today."

"Wow." She paused, "Alek, I didn't know. I wish you would have told me before." He sat back up and looked at his feet.

"I would halved, but… it justeth….I didn'ts swant to make a big deal." Deryn looked at him sadly. Of course he didn't want to celebrate his birthday, his parents had just died. "Usually I havet a partttty." Alek continued. "There's is music and danethicing. We even have a thfeater group come and durchführen manchmal. You would loooove it, Dylan, I bet you've never worden to ein ball." He looked up at her with a grin.

She snorted. "Sounds like a barking huge mess for just a birthday." But she couldn't help feeling touched that Alek would want to invite her.

"It is." He said, laughing a little. "I never likeden the fancyethen stuff all that much. My favorite part was when Muttether would make streuselkuchen in the morning. She wouldnotn't let the servants helpfe her and made it alle auf ihr own." He wiped his face with his sleeve then gazed into the distance for a moment. When he started to speak again it was strangely clear and unslurred for him being so drunk. "Father said he was going to get me a stormwalker of my own this year. I was so excited. I wanted him to give it to me earlier and didn't want to wait until my actual birthday. And to think I actually got that wish, little did I know the price I would pay for an early birthday present. It's actually kind of funny now that I mention it. " He started laughing again.

"Umm, I guess." Deryn answered. She could tell that the laughter would be turning into tears soon. Poor boy. He took another swig, but this time it didn't settle so well. The swallow turned into a gagging cough and with a nasty expression on his face, Alek turned and vomited all over the rug. He then crumpled into a ball and fell into the wall behind him.

"ALEK! You dummpkof!" Without another thought Deryn jumped out of bed and ran over to him. He was still laughing but there was a sobbing hic up sound as well. "Oh Alek. Come on, let's get you cleaned up." She gave his arm a tug, but he wouldn't budge. Instead he said something nasty in German and pulled away from her. "Well, fine then, lay in your own sick!" She said grumpily and then realized that she couldn't let him stay on the floor like that. Grudgingly, she pulled at him again, but when he refused to move she decided she could at least move the newly stained rug. With a few more tugs and some bizarre German curses, Deryn was able to get the soiled rug up from underneath him. It looked like an expensive antique carpet, so she thought it best that she should clean it. With a groan she dragged it the bathroom, refilled the tub and dumped it into the water to soak. She could make Alek scrub it in the morning. The daft prince could make himself useful again once his hangover wore off.

Looking at herself in the mirror to check for possible puke exposure, she realized yet again at the amount of skin she was showing. All she had on was her makeshift bra and some old boxers. Her legs, stomach and shoulders were all clearly exposed and way too revealing. She swore loudly then quickly grabbed some pants and threw her arms into the leather jacket she had been wearing earlier. Luckily both were on the bathroom floor and lucky again that Alek was so drunk that he probably hadn't even noticed that she was undressed. However her luck soon changed when she came back into the bedroom and realized that Alek had removed his boots, trousers and shirt and was now passed out on _her_ bed!

"Alek! What are you doing?" There was no reply. He lay face down in her pillow, and had completely stretched out across the entire double bed. _At least he is wearing his briefs. _She thought. The sudden image of naked Alek in her bed made her flush and turn away for a minute.

"I'm sssssorrryy Dyllaned." He finally said, raising his head a bit to look at her. "I don'think I canth maked it tooth my owned rooooms."

"Well, where am I supposed to sleep, you ninny?" Alek crawled under the covers and rolled over to one side of the bed, then patted the spot next to him.

"Share?" He asked, looking at her with a similar expression that Bovril used when trying to look cute. She grumbled under her breath, but crawled in next to him anyways. Honestly, it wouldn't be too bad if she had to share a bed with Alek. Her heart did a skip. Godswounds she was a terrible solider.

"You smell gut." Alek suddenly uttered.

"WHAT?"

"I said you smell good. No that you smelled bad bevor, but you smell wie blumen…er …flowers."

"Umm…yes… I took a bath. You should go to sleep. You're very drunk."

"Dankeschön, thank sie Dyaln."

"Are you thanking me?"

"Yes." He suddenly leaned over and gave her a big sloppy kiss on the cheek. "Sie have been very kind." She didn't know what to say to that. Instead she sat there in silence, listening to her heart double in speed.

Alek turned back over and blew out the lamp. He then stretched out again with a sigh, pushing his feet up against her legs. Soon his legs were next to, if not, almost on top of her own. She would have pushed him away but she was too nervous. Plus, she kind of enjoyed the feeling of his warm skin through her thin cloth pants. It made her shiver, but Alek didn't seem to notice. He had fallen asleep almost instantly and was softly snoring from the pillow beside her. Somehow, Deryn was able to close her eyes and relax. The comfort of Alek's body beside hers and his breathing helped her drift into sleep.

_question: Does anyone know what Volger's first name is?_


	5. Chapter 5

Alek woke up with the sun, as well as with a headache the size of Tokyo. He groaned and looked around for a moment, wondering how his bed had ended up on the other side of the room. Then he remembered he wasn't in his room, but in Dylan's. The other boy was still sleeping, obviously undisturbed by the glaring sunlight filtering in through the window. Alek sneered at him jealously, wishing he could be sleeping right now, while he started to pull the shades down. But something made him stop.

He pushed himself closer to Dylan, examining the way his hair shown in the sunlight. It was a different color than before, almost a golden bronze. He recalled Dylan admitting that he had bathed the previous night. It was true that Dylan's hair usually looked a dirty dish water color, and kind of greasy, but he had never imagined that it was such a brilliant color when it was clean. Even his skin looked better. It was a creamy peach that complemented his hair and his cheeks had a lovely rose to them. Alek gawked for a moment longer, realizing that he had never seen so much of Dylan before. The other boy had fallen asleep in the jacket Alek had given to him, but throughout the night, it had slipped down and was now revealing most of his shoulders and neck. The middie always had a shirt on all the way up to his chin, until now.

It had never occurred to him before, but Dylan sure was a _pretty _boy. It was like the classic Greek and Italian paintings from the Renaissance, with the youthful men delicately modeling the beauty of the human body.

Alek snorted, thinking of Dylan posing for a painting was an absurd idea. An image of Dylan in a toga, posing for Michelangelo while spitting and cursing swam into his head. It was hilarious, but Alek didn't find himself laughing. Instead he was suddenly brushing his fingers through Dylan's hair and down his cheek, amazed at the softness of his skin.

"MMfgff." Dylan muttered. He stirred from his sleep and gave Alek an angry look. Quickly, Alek pulled his hand away.

"I'm…I'm sorry, there was something in your hair." Alek lied. Dylan rose on eyebrow, confused. He yawned, mumbled something along the lines of a curse, turned over and went back to sleep.

Alek continued to stare for a few more moments. Then shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the odd tingly feeling he had as well as the splitting headache. He decided he should get up and have a glass of water, but as soon as he lifted his legs over the side of the bed, a wave of nausea hit him.

_Bad idea._ He thought, then lay back down. Maybe it would be best if he went back to sleep; after all, it was still pretty early. But as soon as his head hit the pillow, he felt someone standing over him.

"It seems that someone had quite a rambunctious night." Alek opened his eyes to see Volger staring down at him. "I hope you are feeling alright, your highness."

"Ummm, Count Volger…..what are you doing here?" He sputtered.

"Wake up your bed fellow, I wish to talk to you," the count replied, "both." Alek wasted no time and gave Dylan a nervous shake of the shoulder.

"Barking spiders, what now!" Dylan started to groan. When he realized that Volger was there, he shut right up.

"Good morning _Mr. _Sharp. I may still call you that, may I? There haven't been any…changes over the night that I should know about?" Volger crossed his arms, and stood as tall as he possibly could. He then gave Dylan a sharp, dirty glare.

"Uhh, no sir." Dylan answered, his voice suddenly much softer. "No…changes."

Alek looked between the two, completely bewildered as to what they were going on about.

"I would hope that you have had enough sleep by now. It has been since yesterday afternoon since you have been up, has it not?" Volger continued on with Dylan.

"Uhh, yes sir."

"Very well then. I have to say, given the circumstances, I am much happier that Alek stumbled into your bed instead of Lady Elsie's."

"Okay, hold on a minute." Alek interrupted. "What are you two talking about? You're not suggesting that I would…with her?" Alek tried to picture the situation and shuddered.

This time it was Dylan's turn to look confused.

"WHICH HER? I mean.. . who?" He looked absolutely terrified. Volger took a moment to clear his throat.

"You can't be that transparent, can you Aleksander? Well, I guess you could, seeing as that you almost did fall for her trickery. It seems that your cousin had means to intoxicate you so that you would sleep with her."

"WHAT!" Dylan stammered. His eyes were now the size of dinner plates.

"Elsie would never…." Alek began, but after he thought for a moment, it did make some sort of sick sense. "No.." He slammed his face into his hands.

"WHY?" Dylan mouthed.

"I'm afraid you don't know the Lady Elsie very well _Mr. _Sharp. She's a tricky, nasty little Jew, much like her parents."

"Volger…that….that has nothing to do with anything!" Alek raised his voice. "Besides, her grandfather was Jewish, not her parents."

Volger snorted. "That is precisely the point Alek. Her blood is tainted with their ungodliness and you wouldn't even be able to tell because her grandfather married into a normal family, the bastard, then corrupted the whole lot of them." He sighed. "Listen Alek, Elsie's father the ambassador is completely broke. He's lost everything to the Japanese government. They truly hate him here and have him arrested in Tokyo for the time being. Now, tell me if you think it's strange that she would start on you now? With her father out of the picture the greedy little witch wants to get you in bed with her so she can force a marriage on you without him knowing. She played at your heartstrings last night, convincing you to drink more than you should in hope that you might make some poor decisions on your part. If you were to have done as she had planned, then you would be stuck giving her your title and your inheritance!" He looked at Alek then with a sad, painful expression. He could tell that Volger desperately didn't want this to be true. He was almost pitying Alek, like he wished that he could solve all his problems for him.

"I wish I could have realized it sooner. I would have stopped her if I had known. It didn't occur to me until this morning when the servants were going on about what a fool you had been last night. I am so sorry Alek." Alek felt that he may need to clean his ears out. Was the Wildcount apologizing to him? That was a first.

"It's alright sir." Alek replied. "It is partially my fault too. I did have a little too much to drink and…"

"Don't think for a moment that I am not blaming you, Alek. I am still furious with your behavior. You were a total imbecile to have drunk so much and to let yourself lose control like that. I am utterly ashamed with you. Your father would have been deeply disappointed." Volger's face changed immediately back to a scowl. Alek felt his heart droop in embarrassment.

"I never drink! She tricked me, you just said!"

"She may have Alek, but I would think that after all these years I would have got some amount of knowledge into that thick skull of yours!"

"Now hang on a squick!" Dylan barked. "It was his birthday, and he was barking upset." Alek had forgotten for a moment that Dylan had been listening. When he looked over, the other boy's face had turned pink with anger. "All he wanted was for his ma to make him some streussomething, and she can't cuz she ain't here. And neither's his da, in case you haven't realized. Now I can't say much for tricky Lady princesses, but I know that when my da died I drank myself silly several times!" He gave the count a cold, hard, mean look.

"And for the record, Alek is not sleeping with his cousin, cuz that's just bleeding disgusting, and he was smart enough to come up here instead!" Dylan's voice had raised nearly an octave, and his jaw was chattering. Meanwhile, Volger looked like he had swallowed Tazza. Surprisingly though, he gave a bit of a smile.

"You're right Dylan. It is good that Alek is here instead, and it seems that I have reason to thank you. It's nice that Alek has a friend he can come to when he needs someone to talk to. I'm thankful that it is you instead of Elsie."

Dylan opened and closed his mouth like a gaping fish.

"Now if you please _Mr_. Sharp, would you be willing to go downstairs and get Alek something to eat. With his demeanor last night, I don't think it likely that he will be able to leave the bedroom for a while. And since I had forgotten that it was his birthday, maybe you could find a way to get some Streuselkuchen?"

The look Dylan gave the count could have curdled milk.

"You forgot his birthday." It wasn't a question.

Volger at least had the shame to look a tad embarrassed. But it quickly vanished.

"I do need to speak with Alek privately, so if you could make yourself useful…"

"What is it?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Streus cooken? What is that?"

"Ah, it's an apple crumb cake, very simple and quite dull if you ask me, but Alek has always been quite fond of it. I'm sure the cooks will know what it is and…."

"I'll make it." Dylan cut him off.

"But Dylan," Alek interrupted, "you don't even know what it is."

"I'll figure it out." He started to get out of the bed.

"How very…domestic of you _Mr._ Sharp. To think that you can cook, that really is quite amusing." Volger suddenly looked very pleased with himself.

"Shut it, count. I'm quite through with you."

"Yes, but before you leave, you may want to put your jacket back on. We wouldn't want you wandering about the house half dressed, now would we?"

Dylan quickly snatched up the jacket that had fallen beneath the covers and shrugged it over his arms before buttoning it all the way up to his chin. Once again, Dylan's neck and shoulders were completely covered.

"Dylan, you really don't have to.."

"Don't worry about it!" He grinned. "I'm not that bad of a cook. Ma used to force me and my brothers to help so she didn't have to do all the work. Besides, you're going to have to clean the carpet." He pointed to the bathroom where Alek saw the familiar rug soaking in the tub. His stomach gave an awful twist when he remembered how it had looked the night before. Dylan gave another grin and with a bounce he jumped off the bed and padded out of the room barefoot, not giving the count another look.

"Well then," Volger said, switching to German as soon as Dylan was gone. "I wanted to discuss some things with you. It appears that the marriage contract between you and Elsie is completely unnecessary, what with her behavior and her father's refusal in the first place. I have to say, I am quite glad that that finally went sour."

"You seemed okay with it yesterday in the carriage." Alek answered blankly.

"That's only because I was disagreeing with that preposterous young doctor and her insults to your family lineage." Alek rolled his eyes, but the Count either didn't notice or refused to respond. " Now, about the doctor. She has told me that we will be meeting with the Emperor tomorrow."

"The WHAT?"

"Emperor Taisho, the emperor of Japan. Surely you remember hearing about him. The German ambassador Derek Eberhardt will obviously not be attending, but the ambassadors from Britain and France, will be. From what I hear they have direct orders from Winston Churchill to discuss what should be done with you. Right now you are a prisoner of war under the command of the British Empire, but things could easily change. Emperor Taisho is a sickly man, and will probably do whatever his advisers suggest. So we must be careful about what we say and do. If we do not please the Japanese assembly and the Darwinist Ambassadors, we may end up in worse shape than we are now."

Alek sighed. So much for a peaceful birthday.

"Now, I would suggest you be in tip top shape tomorrow. Get plenty of rest today, and do get over your drinking spell soon. I wouldn't want the assembly to think you're a drunkard." He gave Alek a reassuring pat on the shoulder, if Count Volger could be reassuring. "By the way, I'm sorry that your birthday was not what you are used to, but we are in a war right now, and I'm afraid things are never the same during war time. And for once I'm glad you have Dylan. He will be a true friend to you Alek."

"I know." Alek said. Then he smiled for the first time that morning.

_Don't worry, I'm Jewish myself. I'm not trying to insult anyone with this. Just being historically correct_


	6. Chapter 6

Elsie's kitchen was enormous. Deryn assumed it was even bigger than the kitchen for the entire _Leviathan._ She remembered the Count saying something about Elsie's family being broke. If the Japanese had taken all her father's money, it didn't make sense that she would have such a big house with such a gigantic flipping kitchen. But as she began to dig through the pots and pans, Deryn realized how old and warn everything was. The pots were dirty and rusted and when she looked in the cupboards most of the china was cracked. Even the wooden counters were rotting in places. The rest of the house was the same. Deryn remembered how her room had stunk of dust and the carpets in the parlor and hallways were all threadbare. Everything looked expensive, or at least had been expensive at one time, but now they were all sad and warn.

Even Elsie's servants looked warn and tired. Most of them were German, but a few had Japanese faces. All of them looked at Deryn with exhausted expressions, and didn't bother to help her with her cooking. In fact, they barely seemed to notice she was there. When Deryn found the cook and asked about Stroose El Cooken, the woman pointed at a cupboard of old cook books without even bothering to speak.

The books were in even worse shape then the kitchen. The pages were moth-eaten and dog-eared and many had old food stains. Deryn picked up the ones that looked the sturdiest, and paged through them looking for recipes in English. That proved to be easier said than done. Everything was either German or Japanese or even French. Occasionally, even though she was being very gentle, the pages would fall out as she turned them.

Eventually she gave up and walked to the cellar to look for the food goods. At least Elsie seemed to have enough money to buy some nice food. Deryn made her way to an ice box and dug out some eggs, butter and milk. In the dry goods area of the cellar, she found some flour and sugar. Unfortunately, apples were nonexistent, but she did happen upon some interesting looking orange fruit that looked like apricots. She made her way back up to the kitchen and dumped all her ingredients near the wash basin. This one had running water just like the bathtub in her room. Delighted with the discovery, she hastily began to rinse off the fruit, then cut them into smaller pieces on the counter.

She was contemplating how she was going to pull off the German dessert when she heard someone walk up beside her.

"I hear you're making your own breakfast. Not the normal behavior of most guests. The cook is quite impressed with you."

Deryn turned around and saw that Lady Elsie was standing over her shoulder. She gave the German woman a cold glare, remembering what she must have done to Alek last night.

"Dylan, is it?" The girl asked, "I could get someone to make that for you."

"Not necessary." Deryn said, returning to her work. Although she didn't have a recipe, and she wasn't an amazing cook, she hadn't destroyed the dessert yet. She also felt that it was the least she could do for Alek on his birthday. His mother wasn't here to make it for him, but she could try to make up for that a little.

"What are you making?" Elsie asked. She moved a tad bit closer to get a better look.

Deryn didn't want to answer. She continued slicing up the fruit and removing the pits when she had to. Hopefully Elsie would leave if she didn't talk to her.

But the other girl stayed put, and to Deryn's surprise she picked up a knife herself and began cutting a few of the apricots.

"I have to say I kind of envy you common people. I always wish that I could have learned how to cook." She was struggling with the fruit, cutting very slowly and awkwardly. It looked like she was holding a thorny twig instead of a kitchen knife. When Deryn didn't reply to her she continued. "I realize that you must have talked with Alek this morning. I hope he is feeling alright. He had quite a bit of champagne and barely ate anything to go with it. I'm sure that wasn't too good for his stomach.I should have told him to be more careful."

_Uhuh, sure you would have_. Deryn thought. She highly doubted that Elsie would have stopped Alek's drinking binge at all, but she wasn't going to say so out loud. They stood in silence for a few more minutes. Deryn thought she saw the servants staring at them from their own work. They must have looked an odd pair, a stunning German noble lady and a common midshipman slaving over a pile of fruit. Deryn looked over at Elsie to see that she had started placing the fruit into a bowl.

"I have to say Dylan, I happen to like your hair a lot. My younger sister had a very similar color."

"Excuse me?" Deryn finally spoke. If she had just heard right Elsie was comparing her to a girl.

"Your hair. It's very colorful."

"Aye, it is that I suppose." She quickly looked away and pulled the pits out of the remainder of the apricots before tossing them into a pot and walking over to the stove. "Did you say you had a sister?" She hadn't seen any other people that lived in the house besides Elsie and the servants.

"Two sisters." Elsie said. "Stella is married to a lordling in Russia, I hardly ever see her. Leslie died when she was seven."

Deryn stopped what she was doing and looked at the other girl. Elsie's expression had looked exactly the same as it did before, and she was rinsing her hands off in the wash bin without a second glance at Deryn.

"I'm sorry." Deryn muttered, it was the only thing she could think to say.

Elsie shrugged.

"It happened a long time ago and she was very sick. I just think it's funny that she had such similar hair to yours."

Deryn gave a sympathetic smile.

"Aye, sharp hair. We are very sharply colored us Sharps." It was a joke that her brothers used to repeat to anyone who would listen. But Elsie didn't seem to find it very funny. She just sadly grinned at Deryn.

"I'm guessing that you're making this for Alek. He always had a soft spot for homemade sweets. In that case I think I should let you continue on your own. I'd probably ruin whatever else you need to do seeing as that I have no idea how to cook." She made for the door but Deryn stopped her.

"Elsie, is it true that your father is in jail?" After she had blurted it out, she instantly regretted it. Elsie's face looked even sadder than before.

"Yes, it's true." Elsie mumbled. She didn't go into further detail. "Well, I trust you will have a good afternoon then." And without waiting for an answer, the ambassador's daughter walked out of the room.

Even if Elsie was as tricky as the Count had said, Deryn couldn't help but feeling bad for her. She couldn't imagine living in this huge house all by herself with only grumpy servants for company.

Deryn stirred the orange fruit together with the sugar on the stove. They were a bit sour and not quite ripe yet so she figured she could make a sort of jammy stew filling. While letting that simmer, she poured the flour, butter eggs and the rest of the sugar into a bowl and began to cut it like a pie crust. She didn't know exactly how to make Alek's Stroose El Cooken, but she figured it must be similar to an apple pie. She didn't have apples, but she was confidant that it would still taste alright with the mysterious Japanese fruit. Eventually she had a thick enough dough to mold with her fingers and used it to create a pie shell before starting the gas oven.

The oven was definitely a clanker contraption, and she wasn't having much luck with it. It was barking old and most of the knobs were stuck or didn't do anything. With a sigh, she walked into the other room in search of the cook.

"Oye, miss cook? Are you there? You think you can turn on the blasted oven? HELLOO?" She walked down a narrow hallway where she had seen the servants dawdling around. It got darker as she walked and soon she was walking up a staircase she hadn't seen before. At the top she could hear hushed voices behind a closed door.

"…..indeed one of the first of its kind. It's very destructive, of course, and the consequences can be disastrous. But I think the Emperor will agree with me that this is a necessary development to prevent more war."

Deryn instantly recognized the voice as belonging to the boffin. She pressed her ear against the door, wondering who she could have been talking to.

"_Still Dr. Barlow, do you really think that the _Goliath_ is our only choice. Surely there are better, more _humane_ ways to end the war." _This voice was unfamiliar to Deryn and sounded very muffled and distant.

"I know it may seem rash Dr. Higginz, but the Japanese do make a good point. If we don't do something soon…. One moment please,"

There was a moment of silence before the door began to open. Deryn tried to escape, but Dr. Barlow had seen her and had pulled her inside.

"I'm afraid we'll have to talk later Higginz, I have someone else I need to talk to." She said.

"_Very well, Miss Barlow, but don't make any certain decisions without me." _

There was a click, and Deryn looked to see a radio transmitter set up on an old ragged desk. The Lady Boffin must have been talking to someone over the radio.

"Mr. Sharp," She said, pulling Deryn's attention away from the transmitter. "I think that the army frowns upon eavesdropping. Lucky for you I needed to discuss this matter with you anyways. I would have called for you later in the morning, but since you are up now and have found your way to my room, it can be settled presently."

She sat down next to the desk and motioned for Deryn to take a seat at a chair opposite her.

"I'm very sorry ma'am. I was just looking for the…"

"No need to worry Dylan, although you should be more careful in the future. Tazza noticed right away that you were outside my door."

Sure enough, Tazza was bouncing up and down on his hind legs in the door way, looking smug with himself.

"We need to discuss our plans for tomorrow." She pointed to her desk where there was a large set of confusing blueprints and mathematical equations. It looked like the outline of some complicated machine. "As you may have heard, we are to be meeting with the Emperor of Japan tomorrow as well as his assembly."

Deryn had not heard that before. She looked up at the boffin with a shocked expression.

"I thought we were only meeting with the ambassadors." She muttered.

"Yes, but plans have changed. I have received some important information from Dr. Higginz, the British Ambassador of Japan. The Japanese have built an amazing new invention, and I believe that it may be the cure for this disgusting war." She made direct eye contact with Deryn. A grin stretched the boffin's face that seemed to make her glow and she looked so delighted that Deryn thought she might cry. "They call it the _Goliath._"

Deryn stared back for a moment then at the blueprints. Was this the plans for the invention? What was it anyways? Deryn felt a little scared but excited as well.

_"_What is the Goliath?" Deryn asked. Barlow only smiled.


	7. Chapter 7

They arrived at the palace in the evening. It was an extravagant building flanked by fountains and large trees. As they walked to the doorway, Deryn saw that the path was framed by two small rivers on each side. They were man made and had thousands of tiny goldfish swimming up and down the waterway. When she looked closer she realized that they must have been glowing. The fish illuminated the pathway and Deryn figured they were some sort of fabrication related to glowworms. She pointed this out to Alek who gave her a very disgusted expression.

"Glowing fish? They couldn't have used regular lanterns like everybody else?" But his eyes were glued to the water in amazement. "They are very pretty though." He admitted.

The giant door was opened for them and they were led inside by a very formally dressed Japanese man. He bowed to them, and they bowed back. Then, with the flourish of an arm, he introduced himself in perfect English.

"I am Magistrate Kadashi and I will be your host this evening." He gave them all a weary look, his eyes pausing when they passed over Bovril who was perched on Alek's shoulder. He then faced Deryn and bowed again. "You must be the Prince, it is a pleasure to meet you. If you need anything during your visit, please do not feel pressured to ask."

"Umm, actually that would be him." Deryn muttered and pointed to Alek. The Magistrate looked at her confused. He was nearly a head shorter than her and rather bald. The hair he had left was combed over his large bald spot to look like he had more than he did. When he opened his mouth again to speak, Deryn thought she saw the hint of a golden tooth.

"I apologize. I didn't expect that the Austrian Prince would have a Darwinist Fabrication." Kadashi said while looking at Bovril with interest.

"If you don't mind sir, we do have an obligation with the Emperor." Dr. Barlow said. She and Volger were standing behind Alek with annoyed expressions on both their faces. Obviously the Magistrate was talking more than they would have liked.

"Right." Kadashi said. And with another arm flourish he led them toward another set of doors. They walked down several hallways with marble floors and walls. Eventually they emerged up a staircase into a wooden corridor with flimsy walls and doors that looked to be made of paper and bamboo. Deryn could see through them slightly and thought she could see the outlines of people and beasties. Kadashi stopped them in front of the largest paper door and slid it open to reveal a small room furnished with a low table and cushions.

"If you would be so kind as to remove your shoes and have a seat, the Emperor will be with you shortly." With another shove of the sliding door, he was gone.

Deryn kicked off her boots situated herself in a large silk pillow next to Alek. The two of them sat on one side facing Barlow and Volger. The Lady Boffin didn't waste any time and quickly pulled out the blueprints for the _Goliath_ and spread them out in front of her. From Alek and the Count's faces, Deryn could tell that they had never seen the papers before.

"What is this?" Volger asked her.

"Blueprints." She responded.

"I can see that, but what are the blueprints of?"

She gave him a wicked little smile before pulling out a blue pen and scratching something down.

"Don't worry, we'll have plenty of time to talk about that once we meet with the Emperor. Speaking of which, do you know why he is meeting with us here? I would have thought we would be talking to the entire assembly as well."

"As did I." Volger said. Deryn suddenly noticed that he was sweating profusely even though the room was rather chilly. She watched him pull a handkerchief out of his front pocket and dab his forehead.

"What's the matter?" Alek asked, noticing Volger's obvious discomfort as well.

"Nothing we can't handle your highness. It just seems that the Emperor may be plotting something himself."

Alek opened his mouth to say something else but was interrupted by the door opening again. Magistrate Kadashi was back with several other people. Behind him was a child on a litter that had to be carried into the room by two others. When Deryn looked a little closer, she realized it wasn't a child, but a tiny man with bone thin arms and legs and a thick bulgy torso. He was dressed in an ornate blue silk robe with flowery designs and he smelled like baby powder. It didn't seem that he could move much on his own because the two other men that had carried him in had to arrange him on the pillows so that he was fully supported by them. She continued to stare when she saw that his torso wasn't fully his own. A beastie resembling a mix between a spider and a monkey was hooked to his back. She could see its scrunchy face peering out at her from behind the man's neck.

"Aleksander Ferdinand von Hohenberg, I introduce you to his royal highness Emperor Taisho of Japan." Kadashi announced. Deryn looked over to see that Alek was staring as well. She nudged him in the ribs with her elbow causing him to jump.

"Ah yes…" He squeaked. "That is, it's good to meet you, your highness." Alek gave a slight bow of the head in the direction of the small man.

_This can't be the Emperor_. Deryn thought. Yet she watched the others sit on opposite sides of the man and place a few royal documents in front of him. The little man blinked at Alek and gave a hoarse, long, clattery breath that moved his entire torso. She watched in horror as the spider beastie moved the man's head with its own hairy legs and fingers so that he was now making eye contact with Alek.

"_And it is nice to finally talk to you face to face young sire." _The Emperor said. But he wasn't saying it directly. Instead, the beastie behind him was mouthing the words with the man's voice. Deryn felt Alek shudder beside her. She couldn't imagine how he must feel about this, seeing as that he was a clanker and all. The beasties always made Alek a little queasy, not to mention that this man was hooked up to a barking fabrication. It was even a little too much for Deryn who had been raised with Darwinist creations her entire life.

"We appreciate you meeting with us," Volger said. Deryn noticed that he was sweating more than before, but he didn't show any nervousness in his expression. In fact, besides the occasional dab of the forehead, Volger looked completely calm and peaceful. "I believe we need to discuss Alek's future connections with Japan."

"_I agree_," Came the eerie voice from the beastie. "_But first, I have heard that you have some interesting news for me, Miss Barlow_." The beastie turned his head so that he was facing the boffin.

"Indeed." She answered, without a hint of alteration in her voice. "Dr. Higginz and I have been over the plans of your new invention." She smiled.

"It really is very…..stunning." Said one of the men who had carried the Emperor in. Deryn noticed at once that he had a British accent, even though his face was strongly Japanese.

"_I find it deliciously diabolical, don't you?_" Deryn thought she saw the Emperor's lips curl into a very small smile.

The Japanese man with the British accent, who must have been Dr. Higginz, gave a nervous shiver.

"My Lord," He muttered. "Please, I wish you would reconsider this idea. It's so barbaric."

_"It's the only way to stop the Germans."_ A hairy spider arm lifted a small bony one and delicately arranged the fingers so he was pointing at the blueprints. _"If you would be so kind Dr. Barlow, would you explain the plan to our Austrian friends?"_

"Gladly," She beamed. "Here is a sketch of the beast."

Deryn finally looked at the blueprints completely for the first time. The majority of the paper was filled with the side view of a dolphin. As she looked closer she got the impression of the scale of the beast and her eyes widened. The dolphin was drawn next to a scale drawing of the _Leviathan_ and was nearly three times the length of the hydrogen breather. She also noticed that the dolphin was equipped with large engines and propellers that looked like replicas of th_e _other ship's_, _but three times bigger_. _Beneath the beast's stomach was another beastie about half the size of the gondola positioned next to it. It had the tough shell of a nasty insect and was curled tightly into a ball with its legs and antennae stuffed inside.

"Thanks to new Japanese technology, we have discovered how to make the breathers spurt Helium instead of Hydrogen. Although this requires for the beastie to be nearly twice as big do to the fact that Helium is twice as heavy. However the benefits are that we no longer have to fill the intestines with a flammable gas making air travel much safer."

"Barking spiders!" Deryn interrupted. "You didn't tell me the thing could fly!" She pulled the sketches out of Dr. Barlow's hands to better inspect the drawing.

_"The _Goliath_ will not only fly, but fly faster!" _ Said the Emperor. "_Thanks to Dr. Barlow's work on _Leviathan_ we now know how to build Clanker engines that will support the large air beast better than anything created before"_

"Beg your pardon." Alek suddenly said. He was also looking at the blue ink sketches that Deryn was holding, but he didn't look nearly as excited. "But those engines were not Dr. Barlow's work. They came from _our_ stormwalker."

"And we couldn't thank you for that more, Alek. Since those engines have been on board, I have been taking special note of how they work and Dr. Higginz and I have found ways to attach them to another beastie." She nodded toward the nervous Japanese man who wouldn't make eye contact with Alek.

"But that's… that's just stealing! We didn't give you those engines to build more of your war fabrications; they were only supposed to help the _Leviathan!_" Alek cried. He looked flabbergasted. Volger, who was fuming on the other side of the table, didn't seem to have anything to say. He only glared at Dr. Barlow and seethed.

"I know it may seem that way, Alek, but you haven't heard the entire story yet." She took the sketches back and pointed to the strange insect beastie below the _Goliath's_ posterior region. "This is the true heart of the _Goliath._ When this beastie is dropped from the sky it can destroy an entire city in seconds." She pulled out a drawing from beneath the first which was a black and white map of China and the surrounding areas. A red dotted line marked a path from Tokyo to another city in China. "This is Tsingtau." She continued. "A port city in China that has been a German settlement since 1898. We plan on attacking the city."

She was dead serious, Deryn could tell. All smiles were gone from the boffin's face and were replaced by a knowing stare. "It's a small settlement, with barely over five thousand inhabitants, most of whom are German Soldiers that are stationed there."

_"When the _Goliath _is positioned over the town, the _Demon_ will be dropped, exploding itself on immediate contact with the ground. Before the Germans have time to retaliate, the _Golialth _will be gone. It's super powered engines already pushing it halfway back to Japan." _Deryn thought she heard the tiny man laugh. _  
_

"The _Demon_." She mumbled to herself, then looked at the large insect again with a new awe.

"May I ask why we are bombing this town?" Volger piped up. He still looked severely angry. "It's not in Germany."

_"Once the Germans surrender, Tsingtau will be given over to us. It's a valuable port that will allow Japan to have direct trade routes with China."_

"You expect the German's to surrender?" Alek asked.

"They will have to." Dr. Higginz spoke up. His voice was quiet and sad. "The Germans will have no way to build something as large and destructive to combat the _Goliath_. They do not have the knowledge to blend Darwinist and Clanker inventions. If they do not surrender, we will continue to build bigger and stronger air beasts that will eventually destroy their entire country."

"You could consider the _Goliath's _attack on Tsingtau as a warning." Said Dr. Barlow. "The destruction of the small town is just the beginning of what our fabrications can do."

Alek still looked disgruntled, but the rest looked at her and nodded agreement.

The rest of the evening went by calmly. Deryn didn't pay much attention to the remainder of the conversations. The Emperor discussed that he had no intention of keeping Alek and his men as prisoners in Japan and that the British Empire had full custody over them. Later, a young Japanese woman also dressed in silk with a white painted face brought them green tea , soup and some sort of fish. They ate silently as the woman sang for them and played a strange looking harp. Afterward, Emperor Taisho excused them and Kadashi led them back through the winding halls and out of the palace.

They headed to a hotel in town since they had outdid there stay at Elsie's. When Deryn had finally climbed up to the hotel room she was going to have to share with Alek, she walked over to the window and remarked at the beauty of Tokyo in the evening.

"It looks like a dream almost." She said.

"Yes, a very strange dream." Alek commented. They watched the oddly shaped buildings for awhile and delighted over the millions of paper lamps that lit up the streets. Deryn could see a river flowing slowly to the north with large barges lazily drifting by. People walked through the streets in bizarre lengthy robes and dresses. Everyone had long hair, even the men, who tied it up in elegant knots on top of their heads. Across the road a woman was shouting out the prices of her wares as she stood behind the counter of a small shop. The Japanese words were strangely melodic, and fit well with the odd beauty of the city.

Alek stretched his arms above his head and yawned. He moved over to one of the two beds and sunk into it. It was more of a mat than a bed. It looked like a mattress that had been laid out on the floor with a few blankets and sheets. The room didn't have much more to it besides the two beds and a rug beneath them. The walls were made of the same paper that was at the palace. Deryn yawned as well and plopped down on the bed next to his.

"Do you really think the Germans will surrender?" Alek asked. She could tell that the idea of the _Golaith _was still bothering him_. _She shrugged.

"I think that it's our best move against them." She replied.

"I guess." Alek mumbled. He slipped out of his jacket and pants and climbed under the covers. Deryn of course would have to sleep in her clothes, but she didn't mind. She was growing to like sleeping in the same room as Alek.

"_Mr. _Sharp." Came a voice from Alek's bed, "_but fly faster." _Bovril said in the Emperor's disturbing voice.

"Go to sleep beastie." Alek growled. Deryn smiled to herself thinking how Darwinist Alek sounded when he said that.

_Thanks for continuing to read! The comments are lovely and always make me want to write more!_


	8. Chapter 8

When Alek came downstairs for breakfast, Dylan was already there. The other boy had his face stuffed in a large medical book and barely acknowledged Alek when he sat down. Alek didn't feel like bothering him, so he focused on his food instead. It was fish.

Normally Alek liked fish, just not for breakfast and preferably not raw. But, he didn't want to be rude, so he managed to pick a small piece up with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth. It didn't taste bad, but the texture and sliminess of it made it difficult to swallow. He looked over to see that Dylan had neither touched his fish nor his chopsticks and was slowly eating rice with his fingers. His eyes were practically attached to the book, causing him to pause between bites, his mouth open, while holding the rice midway between his lips and the plate.

"What are you reading?" Alek asked, wondering what could possibly be so fascinating. Dylan grinned and put the book down so Alek could see.

"Dr. Barlow gave it to me, amazing isn't it?"

Alek looked at the page the book was opened to and rubbed his eyes. On the left side was a picture of a disfigured naked boy. His limbs were bent at odd angles and his head looked too large for his body. On the other side was the same boy, just with his back cut open so Alek could see a grotesque amount of muscle and tendons.

"And it get's even better!" Dylan exclaimed. He turned the page to show a group of doctors placing what looked like a small animal inside the boy's back. Alek turned away in horror and realized that there was no way he would be able to take another bite of his fish without being sick.

"NO, I do not think that's amazing, I think it's disgusting."

Dylan looked a little shocked and offended, but he laughed as well.

"I forgot that Clankers are scared of modern medicine. Especially new and advanced discoveries that are barking medical miracles"

"Medical miracle? That? It looks more like human torture." Alek plainly stated. He closed the book so he didn't have to look at the photographs any more.

Dylan rolled his eyes.

"These are records of Emperor Taisho's surgery. He was born with a severe spinal disorder and was surgically attached to a fabrication when he was seven. The beastie was hooked to his nervous system so as the boy grew, the fab and him would have the same brain and nerve connections so he could control the beastie with his own mind. It's brilliant! And it saved his life."

Dylan had reopened the book and was showing Alek more disgusting photographs and diagrams. Alek was about ready to pull it out of his hands and throw it across the room in terror, but luckily he was saved by the entrance of Dr. Barlow.

"I hope you two have enjoyed your breakfast. Now hurry and finish up or we'll be late." She said, and before either of them could ask what they would be late for, she had turned and left the room.

"Blister's she's odd." Dylan said.

"You're one to talk." Alek responded while pointing to the open book. Dylan gave him a nasty glare.

Alek didn't figure out where they were going until they arrived at a large fortress later that morning. It was an immense stone brick structure that looked centuries old. The fortress hung over a rushing river a few kilometers upstream from Tokyo and looked even more formidable due to the weather. It was pouring and Alek counted at least three thunderclaps within a five minute period. Luckily, Dr. Barlow had suggested he wear his piloting jacket and cap. The water didn't penetrate through the coat and he wasn't as cold as he could be. Dylan, on the other hand, was not so fortunate. He was shivering beside Alek in a cotton shirt, his wet hair plastered to his scalp.

"Blisters, it's freezing! Wish I hadn't have left my gear on the _Leviathan."_

Alek gave his friend a sad smile.

"You know, you could have worn that jacket I gave you. It's leather."

"And its way too barking fancy to be wearing in this weather. I wouldn't want to ruin it, what with it being a gift and all. It's the best piece of clothing I got."

Alek was a bit taken by that statement. He hadn't realized how much Dylan had appreciated the coat. To Alek, it had just been another piece of clothing to lug around. He had been happy to get rid of it and therefore have more room in his suitcase.

Alek looked at his friend's face. Dylan's lips were blue and his teeth were chattering. He had wrapped his arms tightly around him, trying to warm his slender waist. A sudden urge hit Alek and he took off his piloting jacket and draped it over Dylan's shivering form. He then pulled Dylan toward him and put an arm around his shoulders.

"What in the blazes are you doing that for?" Dylan shouted at him.

Alek bit his lip, pulled his arm back and looked at his feet in embarrassment.

"I thought…you looked really cold."

"Aye, and so do you." Dylan replied. He took Alek's jacket off and tried to give it back, but Alek shook his head.

"No, you need it more than I do." It was true. Alek had another layer of warm fleece on, and Dylan was obviously underdressed.

_ The poor thing barely has any clothing. _ Alek thought. He wondered if Dylan had any warm clothes besides the jacket he had given him and a bit of gear for his duties as an airman.

Dylan paused for a moment, then with a shrug put the jacket on. It fit him strangely, slightly snug in the front and too loose in the shoulders, but the boy seemed truly delighted with it and gave Alek a huge grin. He was still shivering though so Alek put his arm around him again and this time Dylan didn't push him off.

"Is he alright?" Alek heard someone ask in German. He turned around to see that Otto Klopp was behind them and giving Dylan a worried look. "He's so skinny I thought he might blow away in this nasty rain."

"I'm fine!" Dylan responded in crude German. He could understand enough to know they were concerned about him.

"You really should eat more." Klopp said while motioning to his stomach. "Once you build up like me, no silly little rain storm can cut you down." He patted his belly and Dylan gave him an angry look. Obviously he wasn't too happy with them mothering him, but it was hard not to since he looked so pale and miserable.

"Klopp, what are you doing here?" Alek continued in German.

"The Lady Boffin says she needs my assistance with something. It sounded like engine problems, but she wasn't specific."

"Engine problems?" Alek asked. "But we aren't anywhere near the _Leviathan. _Unless she needs help with…oh no." He peered through the downpour toward the river. A large wooden pole, almost like a small bridge, was stretched across it. From this hung several ropes and pulleys that were holding what looked like a large cockroach.

"Alek, I can't….breath." Dylan muttered. Alek realized he had been squeezing the other boy too tightly. He let go with a mumbled apology and then pointed at the giant creature, no, giant _thing_ hanging from the ropes.

"Aye, that must be the _Demon,_" Dylan said, rubbing his sides with a groan. "Enormous, ain't it. Should we go get a closer look?" And before Alek could stop him, Dylan ran over to the edge of the wooden pole. With a sigh, Alek and Klopp hurried after him.

Enormous wasn't even close to describing how big the insect was. Most of it was submerged in the rushing river, which was doing nothing in the way of moving it. Only its head was above the water, and Alek saw two black eyes the size of small horses staring at him through tough grey insect armor.

Dr. Barlow suddenly appeared next to him.

"Marvelous isn't she?" The boffin said to him.

"I wouldn't call it that." Alek grumbled.

"We have to keep it submerged in water so it can stay warm. The air temperature is too cold for the creature to survive while it's still in pupae form, and anything too warm would be dangerous. You see, the liquid inside the fabrication's stomach will explode once it comes in contact with the gas inside the creature's lungs. If the liquid were to reach anything above 30 degrees centigrade, it could evaporate into a gaseous state and then mix with the contents in the lungs. The complications could be quite disastrous. We don't want the two mixing until we drop the creature over Tsingtau."

Alek swore in German.

"Watch your tongue your highness." She said in German back. "And if you and Mr. Klopp would follow me, I have something that may interest you."

She led them behind the fortress and past several large European looking mansions.

"Do people live here?" Dylan piped up from behind.

"They did, but do to the dangerous properties of the _Demon_ we had to evacuate the area. This area, as well as the fortress, are owned by the British Embassy, whose members live in these homes."

They followed her behind one of the large abandoned homes into a long clear meadow. On the ground before them was a gigantic body of a Dolphin. The _Goliath_ was slightly deflated but still incredibly terrifying. Unlike the _Leviathan _which had a certain beauty and charm, this fabrication was complete weaponry.

Industrious looking canons and missiles were everywhere. To Alek's horror they seemed to be made entirely out of the beastie's skin. Other contraptions included thousands of tiny catapults, which the boffin showed them up close. The catapults shot long, sharp arrows that stuck out of the beaks of humming birds. When the birds were released they could fly up to forty kilometers per hour and continue to chase an enemy target for nearly thirty minutes. Dylan was amazed with the birds and insisted on drawing one of the abominations, even in the pouring rain. They let him at it while the boffin hurried Alek and Klopp to the stern of the ship where the engines were kept.

"As you can see we are nearly through with them." She yelled over the rain. "I would just feel more comfortable if you could check them over one last time before we start our mission."

Klopp frowned. "And when will that be?" He glared at her.

"Probably in a week's time. We only have to wait for the _Demon _to be fully grown, and that should be any day now."

Alek shuddered. Only a week. Did the people of Tsingtau know that their lives would be ending so soon?

"Doctor, are you sure there is no other way?" He blurted.

"I have discussed this multiple times with the entire assembly, Alek. I wish we didn't have to do this, but we have no other choice." She gave a heavy sigh. "So if you'd please, I would appreciate you got to work on the engines soon so we don't have to stay out too long in this miserable rain."

She made to walk away but Alek grabbed her arm to stop her.

"I can't." He said.

"I beg your pardon?" She asked.

"I can't help you with the engines, Miss Barlow, I don't want to be part of your disgusting plan."

She stared at him, surprised for a moment before changing to a look of anger.

"You don't understand Alek, this is necessary for the war to end."

"How do you know that? Are you certain that the Germans will surrender? What if they don't? What if after you destroy their city, they continue to fight? Is it worth it to kill all those people when the plan might not work!" He was shaking now, and not just from the cold.

"It's only a few thousand people," She replied, her face inches from his. "Compared to the millions who are perishing in France and Serbia, it is a very small sacrifice to make."

Alek felt his face flush. "Those few thousand people are still _people_, Doctor Barlow, and not just some random commoners, but soldiers who are fighting with honor and pride for their country!"

"Aye, and we wouldn't give a donkey's arse about those random commoners now would we?" Came a high pitched sarcastic voice from behind him. Alek turned around and saw Dylan glaring at him. He wondered how long the boy had been standing there, listening.

"Dylan, I didn't mean it like that, you know what I mean." He fumbled.

"Sure I do." Dylan's voice was still high and shrill with anger. "The millions of commoners in France don't mean nothin' to you, but if a few German Soldiers are getting bombed you get your princely feathers all ruffled. For the record, my brother's in an airship over France right now, and he's just as bloody common as I am! But what do you care, you're a barking prince!"

Alek tried to apologize, but to his surprise Dylan spit at him then threw his jacket at his face. When he pulled it away, Dylan was already running back toward the fortress. He looked at Dr. Barlow, hoping for some sympathy, but she just watched him blankly.

"I'm afraid you don't have much choice in the matter, Prince Aleksander. You are a prisoner of war under the command of the British Empire. If I ask you to check the engines, it isn't a request, but a command." She pointed at one of the British soldiers that had been listening from behind her. "These men don't speak German, so I need you to communicate between them and Klopp about clanker parts, since I am not an expert on the subject."

Alek suddenly closed his mouth, realizing that he had had it wide open for several moments. He made to answer her, but she didn't stay to listen. Instead she walked away without giving Alek another glance.

Working on the mechanics was almost impossible in the rain, but Alek continued without any more complaints. Occasionally he would have to yell a question or comment between Klopp and the British Engineer, but otherwise the work was pretty straightforward. If it hadn't been such a terrible situation, he may have actually enjoyed himself. The engines were fabulously made, the largest he had ever seen up close, even if they were Japanese constructions.

Ideas fluttered into his mind about how he could sabotage the circumstance. He could easily throw a wrench in gears, or leave a bolt unscrewed. But the British Engineer was watching him like a hawk, and Alek couldn't afford to make anyone else angry. He felt horrible enough about how he had insulted Dylan and didn't want to have to face the boffin again after their conversation.

But Alek still couldn't get the idea out of his head that what they were doing was wrong. He was going to have to think of something. Even if it might cost him his alliance with the British Army, he had to stop the _Goliath._ He gulped, remembering the anger and betrayal he had seen on Dylan's face.

_It doesn't matter._ He tried to tell himself. _One friendship is nothing compared to the lives of all those people._

Alek sighed and wiped the grease on his fingers off on his pants. Something had to be done, and he was going to have to be the one to do it.


	9. Chapter 9

The rain continued for the rest of the afternoon and into the night. Alek watched it from his hotel room window, hoping it would stop soon. Unfortunately it seemed to get stronger and he could hear the building creaking in the wind. But Alek didn't let it faze him. He was going to have to leave tonight, rain or not.

He waited a bit longer to make sure that Dylan was asleep. The middie hadn't spoken to him since their argument at the fortress and was treating Alek like he didn't know him. When it had been time for them to go to sleep, Dylan changed in the bathroom and didn't come out until Alek was in bed.

Even Bovril seemed mad with him. The loris had chosen to sleep in Dylan's bed, and wouldn't make eye contact with Alek or say anything besides _dummkopf. _

Alek slowly pulled the covers off himself and rose out of the strange floor mattress. The Japanese beds didn't squeak nearly as much as the one's he remembered from back home, but they were very close together. He had to be extremely careful not to move too much so Dylan didn't feel him leaving. Next to the bed was the tool box he had carried back from the _Goliath. _ No one seemed to care or notice that he had brought it back with him. He opened it silently and pulled out a long axe while making sure the blade was safely tucked into its leather cover. Finally, he pulled on his boots and jacket and tiptoed toward the door. When he looked back, Dylan was still sleeping. He looked so peaceful that Alek almost believed that nothing had happened between them. His heart trembled with guilt when he remembered how angry Dylan had been. It wasn't fair. He wanted to wake up his friend and comfort him; give him a hug and tell him that everything was going to be all right. The boy looked so vulnerable that day out in the rain. His clothes had been wet and clung to his body, making him look skinnier than usual. During their fight his voice had changed to a higher pitch and had quivered as if he were going to cry. It made him look younger and weaker unlike the brave resilient airman that Alek was used to.

Alek shook his head and opened the sliding door without another look back. His actions tonight would probably sever his friendship with Dylan forever. The quicker he got away and stopped thinking about it, the easier it would be. So Alek ignored the pain in the pit of his stomach and left the hotel and rushed out into the storm.

Fifteen minutes later he was next to the rushing river again. He paused to go over his plan one more time to settle his nerves. The idea was simple: he needed to stop the _Goliath_ before the end of the night so he wouldn't get caught. He had considered sabotaging the engines again, but that wouldn't do much and could easily be fixed again by the engineers in the morning. The _Goliath _itself was in fit shape and ready to fly at a moment's notice. If Alek wanted to stop the mission, he would have to aim at the _Demon _instead.

He hurried down the bank of the river, watching the city stretch out behind him in the rain. Within in a few minutes he was in the outskirts of Tokyo, only surrounded by forest and a few large mansions. In the distance he could see the outline of the stone fortress and the immense shape of the _Demon _beside it.

Finally, he approached the odd wooden pole of a bridge and looked up at the rope system that was supporting the gigantic insect. Everything was hooked to a rickety pulley nearly twenty meters above Alek's head and halfway across the river, directly above the head of the creature.

Alek shivered, and not just from the cold. He had two options. He could wheel in the pulley, and therefore lift the _Demon _completely out of the water where it would freeze to death by morning. This was risky, seeing as that it could take hours before the creature died. Someone could easily realize what was happening and save it before it froze. Or, he could cut the ropes, submerging the insect into the river and hope that it would drown. That would be quicker, and harder for the Darwinists to rescue. The only problem was that he would have to cut all the different ropes and not just focus on the pulley. This would require a lot more climbing plus the dangerous swinging of the heavy axe. He looked up at the pulley and groaned. Whatever he chose, he still had to climb.

There were iron pegs in the vertical pole which led up to the horizontal pole that was perpendicular to the first and stretched across the river. It was a simple construction and Alek was surprised that it could hold so much weight. But when he started to climb, he was glad to notice that the wood was similar to that on the _Leviathan: _fabricated and strong.

As Alek reached the top and started to shimmy across the upper pole on his stomach, his head spun. The rain was spitting against his face with icy fury and running down his neck beneath his jacket. It made it impossible to see and the pole beneath him was slippery with ice. Slowly, he pulled his body along the pole, keeping his legs and arms snuggly wrapped around it. It was about a meter thick, so his arms didn't fit all the way around. With each pull forward, Alek searched the bottom of the pole with his fingers, looking for the ropes that connected to the beastie. He had counted twelve all together when he was on the ground, and already he had found five. Lifting his axe out of his belt loop, Alek swung at the fifth rope blindly and snipped it with one easy swing. He continued forward, figuring he could cut the first four that he missed on the way back. Six swings later and Alek was directly over the opposite bank of the river. He took a moment to reach his head around the pole and examine the work he had accomplished.

Through the wall of rain he could make out the slumped figure of the _Demon. _Half of its mutant face was dangling in the water, but it sill was above the surface. He was going to have to turn around and cut the last four ropes. Slowly he sat up, allowing his arms to push away from the security of the pole so he could flip one leg next to other. Accidentally he looked down and scanned the ground below him. Beneath him was a solitary figure looking up at him in wonder.

Alek recognized the face immediately. It was Dr. Higginz, the British Ambassador for the Emperor. The man stared at Alek in confusion before he remembered who he was. Alek tried to call out to him, vaguely recalling that he had been against the plan of the _Golaith, _but it was too late. Dr. Higginz had pulled a whistle out of his pocket, placed it to his lips and gave a long warning blast. Alek yelled at him again, but the man was gone, running up the river bank into the trees.

Behind him Alek heard a sudden rushing sound, almost like a low hum. He heard cries from the fortress and ducked quickly enough to miss several small objects flying over him. They were shooting at him.

Bravery sunk into him from nowhere and Alek realized that he had to finish what he had started or else he would die for nothing. For once he was glad for the rain because it made it harder for them to see him. He pulled himself along the pole again, but much faster and more recklessly. Within forty seconds he had cut down three more ropes and was about to cut the last one when a sharp, shocking pain exploded in his side. He almost fell, but was able to catch himself with just his legs while his arms hung out from beneath him as he swung upside-down from the pole.

The pain was excruciating, but Alek was able to ignore it long enough to realize that, miraculously, he was still hanging onto the axe. With one last miserable thrust he managed to sever the last rope. There was a gigantic splash and Alek saw the remainder of the _Demon _sink below the rushing river.

By then the pain in his side had overtaken him and Alek screamed while his legs gave up their grip on the pole. He didn't remember falling, but suddenly he was submerged in the frigid water, completely soaked and breathless. Frantically he tried to doggy paddle to the surface, or what he thought was the surface. The river had somersaulted him nearly ten times and he no longer knew which way was up or down. He was being pushed down stream away from the _Demon, _away from the fortress and away from Tokyo. His side was throbbing and he couldn't kick because it hurt too much. He gasped as if for air, but gulped in a huge lungful of river water instead. Coughing, gagging and swallowing the water, Alek slowly began to stop moving.

It was hopeless, he realized. He was going to drown. As he allowed his body to become part of the river, a sudden jolt hit him in the back. Something warm had crashed into him, and he felt strong arms reach beneath his own and pull him down to the depths of the river.

His head broke the surface and he realized he hadn't been pulled down, but up. He started coughing again, sputtering the water out of him and breathing in the fresh, cold air. Seconds later he was pulled onto the rocky shore, gasping and crying in pain and relief.

"BARKING SPIDERS! YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT ALEK, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" He looked up to see Dylan standing over him, also gasping for breath. The middie was glaring at him with the angriest look Alek had ever seen. His eyes looked like they were on fire.

"_Dylan? _Is that really you?" Alek said, then coughed up what felt like a gallon of water.

"Aye it's me. Now hurry and get up before they start shooting at you again." He grabbed Alek by the arm again and helped him to his feet. But when he put weight on his left foot he felt as if he'd been stabbed in the side again. Alek screamed and crumpled on the ground in tears. When he opened his eyes, Dylan's anger had faded into fear.

"You've been hit." He was looking at Alek's midriff with horror and Alek was able to summon enough strength to look for himself.

Above his hip, sticking out of his lower back was the body of a humming bird. It was dead now, probably drowned in the river, and its beak was buried deep into Alek's muscle.

"I'll have to carry you." Dylan mumbled, and before he could answer, Alek was lifted into the other boy's arms.

Alek squirmed and screamed but he clung onto Dylan with all the strength he had left. Dylan cradled him like a baby and quickly rushed him away from the river. He ran down a slippery path, through a garden and up a small flight of stairs. A moment later he had plopped Alek on the ground and sat down next to him. It was no longer raining and Alek rationalized that they were indoors. Dylan had carried him into one of the abandoned mansions near the fortress and placed him next to an empty fireplace in a large parlor room with fancy couches and rugs.

They sat for a few minutes, shivering and shocked before Alek was able to push himself to a sitting position.

"We'll freeze to death if we stay like this." He said, then motioned for Dylan to stand up. "Go find us some dry clothes and I'll try to light a fire."

Thankfully Dylan didn't argue and with a nod he ran from the room. Alek painfully pulled himself to the fireplace and rearranged the logs. Whoever had been here last had left in a hurry. The wood was still dry and only partially scorched, as though it had been put out mid fire. Alek found a set of matches on the ground and quickly got a small blaze going. Next he began to strip out of his clothes so he could dry off. This proved to be incredibly difficult to do without inflicting a severe amount of pain upon himself. Eventually he had to cut his pants off with the fireplace tongs, because pulling them off would have hurt too much. When Dylan returned, Alek was naked and huddled in front of the fire.

The middie stared at him for a moment with a shocked expression before quickly dropping a blanket on top of him. Alek thanked him and saw that Dylan was holding a huge bundle of blankets and curtains under one arm and a tea kettle in the other. He had wrapped himself in what looked like an old frilly table cloth that hung all the way down to his feet.

"They have hot running water, like at Elsie's." He said, showing Alek that the tea kettle was steaming.

"Great, a warm drink will help us warm up a bit as well." Alek said. But Dylan was shaking his head.

"That's a good idea, but I need to use this to clean your wound."

Dylan suddenly was crouched down beside him and had started to rip one of the blankets into strips. He opened the kettle and sunk the strips into the water to soak them. A moment later he was reaching for Alek's side and wrapping the hot strips around the humming bird. Alek bit his lip and tried to hold back a scream but it was no use. He eventually was convulsing and crying like a wounded dog.

Dylan's face appeared above his own, looking pale and terrified.

"I'm going to have to remove the arrow." He said.

"WHAT! NIEN, NO, Absolutely not!"

"Alek, I have to."

"WHY? You aren't a doctor! Leave it be. It will be better to just leave it alone until morning. We'll have someone with medical experience look at it then."

Dylan looked at him sadly and shook his head.

"Who do you think will find us here in the morning? There aren't any doctors out here. Unless you want me to go get the British Army to look at it. Although I'm pretty sure they're the one's that just shot at you. No, we have to remove it now. If we leave it, it will just fester." He started to remove the strips to get a better look but Alek pushed him away.

"It hurts too much. Please…."

"It will hurt more if it get's infected, which it's designed to do. A bird has millions of bacteria that are harmful to a human body. If we leave it Alek, it will kill you. Now let me look."

Reluctantly Alek let Dylan's fingers examine the wound. He was about to close his eyes, waiting for Dylan to pull the bird out, but froze when he saw the boy take out his rigging knife.

"Now what!"

"Alek, I'm going to have to push it through."

"You're WHAT?"

"If I pull it out through you're back it will only inflict more damage. Since the arrowhead is barbed it will cut the muscle and arteries when it's pulled out, like a fish hook. Pushing it forward into your stomach will actually be less painful and will allow the wound to heal cleaner." He sounded strangely calm, but Alek could see the immense fear in the other boy's eyes. He was trying to hide it, but it wasn't working.

"You don't seem so sure about that." Alek said, watching Dylan clean the knife in the water.

Dylan didn't answer, but gently used the knife to cut the body of the bird from the beak. He then threw the bird into the fire and looked Alek directly in the eye. His expression was sad and determined.

"I'm so sorry Alek." He whispered, and then Alek felt a terrible punch in his side as Dylan began to push at the arrow. He screamed louder than he ever had before. Kicking and swearing he tried to pull away from Dylan, but the middie had climbed on top of him, straddling him and holding him down with his bodyweight. He continued to shove the arrow into his side without any pause and Alek was screaming so loud he was sure they could hear him in Tokyo.

Alek heard the arrowhead pierce through the skin of his stomach with a pop. A new wave of pain washed over him, stronger than the first and he felt his eyes roll back in his head. Tears and snot were running down his face and he tried to scream again but choked instead. He body slowed down, and he couldn't kick anymore. He suddenly didn't feel the throbbing of the wound, and couldn't remember where he was. He thought he heard Dylan shouting his name, but it didn't register. Instead, Alek let himself drift into unconsciousness as a veil of black swam over his eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

When Deryn saw the arrowhead emerge from Alek's stomach, she grabbed at it and pulled without considering the consequences. She hadn't expected the amount of force she would need to yank the remainder of the arrow shaft out, nor did she expect the amount of blood that came rushing out of the gaping hole that she had created.

"Blisters!" She gasped, and reached for the blankets behind her then smashed one of them over the hole. Good God, it was still bleeding through the cloth. She grabbed another blanket and wrapped it around the first, actually lifting his body so she could get it underneath it and around.

_Almost like my stupid diddies wrappings. _ She smiled to herself, but then shook her head, wondering where the humor had come from. She pulled the second blanket tight, but the blood was _still_ pouring through, so she started on a third, and then a fourth. Finally, there wasn't any red staining the material.

"Barking Prince," She said to Alek, "You bleed like a pig."

Then she realized that he wasn't screaming anymore, or fighting against her. Alek wasn't moving at all. His skin was suddenly very pale and clammy to touch, he looked almost green. She also noticed the puddle of crimson that had flowed out of him. Blisters it was a lot of blood.

_I've killed him. _Her brain suddenly spoke. Big, monstrous tears began to creep down her cheeks and Deryn gave a mournful, loud wail.

"ALEK! NO! WAKE UP!" She shook his shoulders and screamed at him, but there was no response. If only she could go back in time, just ten minutes. She should have listened to him and left the arrow in. He'd still be alive!

More tears slipped down her face and onto Alek's body beneath her. She looked down at the blankets where wetness from her eyes had mingled with his blood and saw that his chest was still rising and falling.

_He's still breathing! _She wiped her face and gave a squeal of relief, but that was soon stopped. Alek's breaths were terrifyingly thin and broken. Every inhale was accompanied by a rasping guttural sound and the breaths were slow and few.

He was still alive, but barely. She knew he wouldn't make it until morning.

Somehow she acquired the strength to stop crying and was able to think things through. She had killed him, most likely, but she didn't have to let him suffer. She could make him as comfortable as possible for these last few moments.

Carefully, Deryn scooped her arms around his torso and pulled him away from the fireplace and out of the puddle of blood. He was freezing. His skin was barely touchable it was so cold. Behind her was a wealthy looking couch which she scooted backwards to and leaned against. Gently she lifted Alek into her lap and cradled him there. She could at least keep him warm.

Delicately she took the rest of the blankets and curtains and put them on top of his icy body. He was shaking, she could see that now, and his eyes were partially open. She closed them with her fingertips and leaned in to kiss his forehead.

Deryn was crying again, but quietly this time. The last of the Hapsburg line was dying and it was her fault. He was her best friend, he'd never know her secret and she had let him die two days after his sixteenth birthday.

Huge choking sobs came over her. But she didn't care. She just continued to sit there and clutch to Alek's body and watch the fireplace die out. She didn't know how long she had sat there, but somehow her own body was giving up and she felt herself drift into a dreamless, unconscious sleep.

* * *

_I apologize for such a short chapter, but the last one was barking long and the next one will be really long too. And I'm sorry it's so depressing too._


	11. Chapter 11

Alek was finally warm. Which was a strangely new feeling, seeing as that he had been in wet clothing for at least two days straight. He kept his eyes closed tight, not wanting to wake up yet. Currently he didn't remember where he was or when he had fallen asleep. He must be back at his bedroom in Prague, waiting for the servants to wake him up for breakfast. Soon he'd be seeing his parents for a quick meal, then off to morning fencing lessons with Volger. But when he finally opened his eyes it all came crashing back to him, like it did every morning since the day of his parents' assassination.

This time though, he didn't recognize the room he was in. It was grand and elegant, like a palace. He noticed sunlight peaking in through large parlor windows and the faint light of a dying fireplace next to him. Then the pain in his side throbbed and he remembered the arrow wound and everything that had happened the night before. It was only an echo of the pain he had felt last night, but it was still enough to make him squirm and moan.

Something moved beneath him and he turned to see that he was lying in Dylan's lap. No wonder he was so warm. The other boy was not only helping him with the body heat from his legs, but he had covered him in a gigantic pile of old blankets.

Dylan himself looked terrible. He must have fallen asleep while watching over Alek because he was leaning up against a couch with his eyes closed. His hair was still wet and frozen in places since the room was the same temperature as it was outside. From the waist up he had nothing on besides the old thin tablecloth. The middie's arms were wrapped around his chest, trying to stay a bit warmer and he was sporting a split lip.

Alek moved to sit up and put the blankets on Dylan, but he quickly fell back down when his side clenched in pain. The movement woke up the other boy who sat straight up and stared at Alek in amazement. His big blue eyes seemed to double in size as he widened them and his mouth fell open.

"OH Alek!" Dylan squeaked. Before he could respond Dylan had seized him in his arms and pulled him into a tight hug. Alek tried to say something but was interrupted when Dylan's lips were pressed up to his own in a sudden kiss.

Surprisingly, Alek didn't push his friend away. He let the kiss linger for a few long moments. It was warm and sweet and Alek was enjoying the tenderness of it. One of Dylan's hands was gently gripping the back of his neck and the other had fallen around Alek's waist. His skin tingled under the touch.

Alek had never been kissed like this. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he had been hugged for an extended period of time. Embracing was frowned upon back when he lived in the palace. He remembered that his parents had to sneak kisses to one another without anyone seeing, and it was very rare when he would receive an occasional embrace of affection from his mother or father. And since the assassination there was even less. Unless Volger decided to start hugging him.

Realizing how much he had been starving for human contact, Alek reached his own hands into Dylan's frozen hair and pulled the other boy closer into a deeper kiss. This seemed to awaken Dylan to his senses because he suddenly jumped and pulled away from Alek with a tremendous look of embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry!" He blurted. "I didn't mean to… I mean… I was sure you were…there was so much barking blood…Blisters Alek! I thought I had killed you!" His face was pink with blush and Alek saw a few tears scatter out of Dylan's eyes.

"Killed me? Dylan, you saved my life! If you hadn't pulled me out of that accursed river, I'd be long drowned along with the _Demon_."

Dylan still looked horribly ashamed. His eyes glistened with more tears and he gave a mournful sniff.

"I just… I didn't mean to, you know…" Dylan couldn't continue he looked so embarrassed.

"You didn't mean to kiss me?" Alek finished. He shrugged at Dylan and gave him an awkward grin. "I don't mind. In fact, I quite appreciated the gesture. It was really…..well… really kind and endearing. I liked it." He looked up into Dylan's face and noticed it turn a deeper shade of pink.

"Oh." He said, looking away from Alek and shivering.

"Besides, you look half mad. I hate to say it Dylan, but you've probably got the start of hypothermia. Not only can it be quite dangerous but Klopp told me it can cause strange behavior. The way you slept like that all night without any blankets and your hair half frozen, it's a wonder that _you _didn't die!"

The poor boy was practically an ice cube, so Alek insisted he wrap himself in some of the blankets.

"You didn't have to give them ALL to me. Now, I'm ordering you to lie down next to me so I can keep you warm. Don't give me that look Dylan, I mean it. I'm worried about you, just so you know, you look awful."

With some more coaxing, Alek finally got Dylan to share some of the blankets and lie down between him and the fire. Without asking, he wrapped his arms around Dylan's waist and pulled him close. It was like squeezing a bag of icicles, and Alek gasped when the skin of Dylan's arms rubbed against his own.

"Barking spiders Dylan, you feel like death." It was shockingly true. Alek suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation. If he had gone on sleeping, who knows how much longer it would have taken for Dylan to freeze to death.

But the image of Dylan as a frozen corpse was luckily wiped from Alek's mind when he heard the middie laughing.

"Are you laughing at me?"

"Aye! You've been around me too long you barking Clanker! You're beginning to sound the proper Scott."

Alek laughed too, realizing he still didn't know what a 'barking spider' was. He hoped it wasn't some strange Darwinist fabrication.

Dylan turned over so they were face to face and cuddled into Alek's body. His head nestled under Alek's chin and he could feel the heartbeat of the other boy against his own. Normally it would have been strange, what with Alek wearing nothing but sheets and Dylan in a table cloth. But something made the situation feel right and almost comforting. Alek guessed that it had something to do with the fact that they had both just nearly escaped death.

Alek felt Dylan's shivering slow down and eventually stop. Finally, his skin was warm again and his breathing became deeper and more regular. His body started to relax and Alek could tell that he had fallen asleep.

Alek yawned and closed his eyes. But as soon as he tried to fall asleep, something slimy and hot was licking his ear. There was a bark and Alek looked up to see Tazza standing over him.

"Tazza!" Dr. Barlow's voice rang through the air. "ALEK, DYLAN, is that you?" Alek slowly was able to untangle himself from Dylan's body and sit up with a painful groan. Dylan sat up much quicker and turned his head toward the doorway of the room where Dr. Barlow was standing.

"Aye, it's us." Dylan said. Dr. Barlow emerged from the doorway and stalked closer. She walked very heavily and didn't answer Dylan immediately. Instead she glared at them in anger. Alek had never seen her like this before, she looked _different_.

Dr. Barlow's hair was down. Her long messy brown curls nearly reached her hips and Alek could see a few strands sticking up straight from her scalp. She appeared to still be in her nightgown which was stuffed under a jacket and her boots were covered in mud.

"You are in SO much trouble!" She scowled. "Do you even realize the mayhem you've caused! Months of work and millions of pounds have been wasted thanks to you two! Congratulations! You've killed the _Demon _and destroyed any hope of ending the war!"

Alek couldn't help but grin. So his plan had worked. Thank God. He felt a huge weight lift off himself and could finally imagine the gigantic insect dead at the bottom of the river.

Dylan stood up and gazed angrily at Dr. Barlow.

"Well that's awful barking rude of you! Can't you see that…" Dylan began, but the boffin interrupted him and pointed.

"Don't you even start with me, you little lying scum of the earth!" Her eyes flared and Alek could see that she was quivering she was so angry. Dylan just stared at her, shocked.

"That's right!" Dr. Barlow continued. "I figured out your little secret. I'm ashamed that you would keep it from me! Just wait until the captain hears about it. That _and _your diabolical scheme to destroy the _Goliath. _ He'll be booting you off to Scotland again before you can say….. airwoman!"

Dylan turned white. He didn't say anything, just gaped at the doctor. Alek turned back at Dr. Barlow, and gave her a confused look.

"Secret? What secret?"

Dr. Barlow looked at Alek and snorted.

"As if you didn't know? Please Alek, don't tell me you're trying to play dumb. With the way I just found you two on the floor. You really didn't know?"

Alek looked at Dylan. The boy looked even more embarrassed then he had after the kiss. His hands were balled into fists and held straight down at his sides while he stared miserably at his feet.

"No, I have no idea what you are talking about!" Alek shouted at the doctor. He was quite upset that she was yelling at Dylan so much. It wasn't the middie's fault that the _Demon _was dead.

"You really are a _dummkopf, _aren't you?" Barlow sighed. "Well, we might as well tell you then, seeing as that you will find out soon enough, what with Dylan wearing _that."_

She pointed back at Dylan's outfit and for the first time Alek got a full view of the strange table cloth. Then, with utter horror, he realized it wasn't a table cloth, but a dress. A white lacy dress which was very transparent in the bust. Dylan must have just noticed as well, because he suddenly was trying to cover himself with his arms.

No, not himself, but_ herself! She _was trying to cover _herself _with _her _arms. But it was too late. Alek had already seen everything beneath the see-through top of the dress. Obviously this _girl _hadn't bothered to put a corset on underneath. He stared for a few moments, noting the way Dylan's hips curved and the slenderness of his neck and shoulders.

"Alek, I…" The girl said. Alek suddenly realized he was staring and quickly turned his head away. There was a long pause, and he thought he could hear the girl crying.

"You didn't tell me." It wasn't a question.

"I tried to!" She yelped. "Twice! But, I couldn't Alek, I….blisters…I just couldn't." It wasn't Dylan's voice, but an imposter. A higher, breathier, female imposter. Alek looked back at his friend only to see a completely different person.

"All this time you were lying to me? I told you everything and you continued to lie to me!" He was shouting now, ignoring the girl's teary blue eyes.

"I'm sorry Alek. I didn't want to! I swear, it was only… I only wanted to protect you!"

"Protect me from WHAT, daresay, your impeccable girlish charms? Don't flatter yourself!"

The girl's face suddenly changed to one of pure hatred. Alek continued to rant, and watched as her features began to purple.

"What a disgrace! A _woman_ joining the air service! You must have been quite a strange girl growing up. Were you always that ghastly tall? I bet you joined up because you were too horrendously ugly to find a husband and needed a way to earn a living without one. Or was it because you were so manly that the women were starting to fancy you and you had to get aboard a ship were there weren't any. Although that didn't work out too well for you either, now did it, seeing how Lilit was quite taken by your masculine charms. In fact, I wonder if she'd take you back now that…"

"Alek, that's enough!" Dr. Barlow sputtered at him. She was looking quite purple herself as if Alek had been insulting her instead.

"I did this because I needed to fly." The girl suddenly said. She almost whispered it, but Alek could tell it had taken a lot of strength for her to talk after what he had just said. Something like a twinge of guilt soured in his stomach.

"Da took me up in balloons ever since I was a wee thing, and once he died I had no way to fly anymore. It killed me, you know, not being able to be up in the sky. So I decided to join up. I knew twice as much as any of those clart ninny boys did, but they don't take girls, no matter if they're better or not. So I traded my skirts for army uniforms and by a barking bit of luck I ended up on the _Leviathan. _And to think I would end up crossing toes with the bloody archduke of Austria. I didn't mean for it to get this barking complicated. Honest."

Alek wanted to believe her, but he was too bitter to try. It wasn't fair. Everything he had told Dylan, shared with Dylan, _Trusted _with Dylan was nothing now. The boy was gone and replaced by a lying, horrible stranger.

"I can't believe you!" He said, suddenly blushing scarlet. "Last night…you saw…I WASN'T WEARING ANYTHING!" He pulled the blankets tighter around his waist and he watched the girl blanch.

_And to think she had the nerve to kiss me! _He thought, suddenly smacking himself in the forehead with his palm. Other memories burst into his mind, times when they had shared embraces or touches that had lasted too long. How could he not have realized this before?

There was an unexpected swish of a skirt and Alek looked up to see the girl marching out of the room.

"Where do you think you're going?" Dr. Barlow shouted after her.

"I'm going to find something else to wear besides this awful barking dress!" The girl shouted back. She slammed the door behind her and Alek could hear her footsteps echoing in the next hall.

Dr. Barlow stared after her for a few moments before giving a long sigh and collapsing in the couch next to Alek. Tazza, who had hidden himself behind the boffin during the fight, followed her and jumped into her lap. Barlow gave the Thylacine a few ear scratches but stopped suddenly when she saw Alek's wound.

"Good God Almighty, Alek! What happened?" She hurriedly pushed the animal off of her and rushed to Alek's side.

"It's nothing, I'm fine." Alek lied. He didn't want any more odd British women looking at his body, but it seemed he didn't have much choice. Dr. Barlow was leaning over him and examining the bandages. She was so close, that Alek noticed she hadn't put make-up on this morning and he could see a small scattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. It made her look even younger than she probably was.

"You're very lucky Aleksander." She finally said, pushing herself a few feet away from him. "I'm glad I gave Miss Sharp that book, she seems to have picked up a few good tips on surgery and the what. It will heal quickly and cleanly."

Alek grumbled to himself. He didn't want to think that anything that girl had done to him had been lucky.

"I'm so glad I found you two. Thank goodness you lit a fire and this was the only house in miles to have smoke coming out of the chimney." Dr. Barlow said. He looked at her and noticed for the first time how tired she looked. "When they woke me this morning to tell me you were both gone, I was beside myself with anger. Later, when we discovered that the _Demon _was drowned, I was certain that they would find the two of you drowned with it. And after Dr. Higginz explained how he had ordered for them to shoot you, good gracious I thought I was going to strangle him."

She had been worried about them. It seemed she was more angry with them leaving in the night than with the destruction of the fabrication. Alek gave the boffin a sad smile.

"I am sorry about the beastie, Miss Barlow, but I really think it was a terrible idea and I'm glad it's done with."

She didn't answer, but only gave a short nod.

"Miss Sharp sure has been taking a while. Perhaps I was a bit too harsh on her. Maybe I should go apologize." Barlow commented. Alek just grunted. There was no way he was going to apologize to that atrocity of a girl.

The boffin rose from the floor and walked out of the room with Tazza close behind. Alek sat by himself listening to her call for 'Miss Sharp' but there was no reply. A minute later, Dr. Barlow returned with a look of pure terror on her face.

"Alek, she's gone!"

Alek told himself that he didn't care, and he gave Dr. Barlow a uninterested shrug. However, he couldn't ignore the slight hint of guilt once again in his stomach.

* * *

_No, I wasn't going to kill off Alek. He's my favorite. Besides, this chapter would not have been nearly as much fun to write without him!_


	12. Chapter 12

The fish market stunk. What with the rain, the mud and the mountains of dead fish there was barely any fresh air to breath. Deryn wondered how much of the stink was coming from the market, or from herself. She had run the entire day through the roads and alleys of Tokyo, stomping through puddles of water and horse clart. It had been stupid of her to leave the mansion without even stopping to change out of the dress. She had been so angry and in such a hurry to leave that she had forgotten she was even wearing the old tattered wedding gown until she had reached the fish market. Now it clung to her body, wet, grey and miserable and barking see-through to boot. People would stop and stare at her, and she could understand why. She must have looked a proper ninny with her diddies showing through, her feet bare, and no stockings to cover her legs. Be it her rotten luck that she had put a dress on in the first place. The closet where she had pulled the blankets had plenty of jackets and pants, but she hadn't been thinking and grabbed the dress instead. And on top of that it was a bloody wedding gown!

She sighed. It seemed she deserved to be discovered this way. The world was out against her now.

_Stupid Dr. Barlow and her stupid assumptions! _She thought. If the boffin hadn't been so angry about the _Goliath _she may not have blethered her secret out so quickly. Not that it mattered, what with the dress and all. Alek had to simply look at her and everything had turned to hogwash.

_Alek…. _

The look on his face when he found out and the things he had said had been so heartbreaking she had been forcing herself not to think about it. She had been so happy he had survived she had kissed him. He had even enjoyed the kiss! Until he found out she was a girl. Blisters it wasn't fair. Part of the reason she had run so hard was to forget about him. Now that she couldn't run anymore the pain was flooding back to her. Plus her feet would never forgive her.

Her boots were back at the abandoned mansion next to the fireplace as well as her middie uniform and jacket. They may have been soaked from the river, but they would have been loads better than what she was wearing now.

She grabbed mournfully at her feet. They were completely covered in cuts and bruises from the rocky roads and almost half frozen. She couldn't walk anymore they hurt so much. After running all day and through the night she saw that the sun was beginning to climb in the sky again. It was still raining, but not as hard as before. The Japanese fishermen were pulling out their carts and booths to sell their catch that morning. They at least didn't seem to mind the rain. Smiling at one another and comparing fish while standing happily beneath tents and umbrellas, the men didn't notice a wet miserable Scottish lass hiding under one of the carts.

She would have continued to sulk there but was distracted when a man came buy pushing a buggy of hot food. He was screaming his wears to the passerby in Japanese and ringing a bell to attract attention. Deryn felt her stomach rumble angrily and watched the man with a new found eagerness. Slowly, she came out of her hiding spot and followed him down the road for a bit. He didn't notice her at first because she was behind him, but eventually she caught up with his dragging pace and tapped him on the shoulder.

Deryn had never seen anyone look at her with such disgust. The man was of height with her, but he still managed to look down on her like a rat. She held out her hands in the universal symbol for begging and put on the most desperate face she could muster up. Which wasn't too difficult, seeing the state she was in.

He considered her for a moment, stopped the cart and took a good look at her. Then without even an answer, turned around and continued pushing his cart up the street. Without thinking, she followed him more and began to pester him in English.

"Please sir, you have so much, and I haven't eaten anything in two days." He ignored her for a few more steps, then finally pulled the cart over to the side of the road and stopped. From his front pocket she saw him remove a few coins and throw them at her feet. Not exactly what she had in mind, but she'd take anything at this point. She quickly bent down to pick them up and when she looked up at the man to thank him, she noticed a strange new look in his eye. It was a hungry gleam and it scared her.

He bent down beside her and brushed his hands through her hair. He didn't look at her in the face but instead at her torn white dress, which was even more transparent now that it was wet. She tried to pull away but he had grabbed her wrist and said something in Japanese that sounded very dirty.

"LET GO OF ME!" She yelped, but he was stronger than her. If she hadn't been running all night, or if she had her rigging knife still she could have easily beat him down. But the world was against her now, she was sure of it.

He grabbed her other arm when she tried to hit him and attempted to pull her toward the buggy when something long and shiny snapped down on his elbow with a nasty crack. He fell down on the ground and held his arm miserably in pain. She could tell that it was broken by the way it was bent and how much the man was screaming. For a moment she stared at him in confusion, wondering what had happened, then she saw the fencing saber above her face.

She whirled around to see Count Volger standing behind her. He was taller than she remembered and his face was so angry that she almost considered running again. But his anger was directed at the salesman, and not her. He had lifted the saber to the man's throat, said a few short words in Japanese and then picked Deryn up off the ground with one hand. Suddenly she was being pulled away from the food cart and back down the road and out of the market.

Volger didn't let go of her arm for one moment. Nor did he speak to her. Instead he pulled her along behind him through the roads of Tokyo and Deryn had to do her best to keep up. Her feet felt like she was walking on knives and she could see them bleeding, but she didn't slow down once.

At last, Deryn started to recognize the buildings around her. The simple elegant gardens and tall trees were exactly the same as the neighborhood Lady Elsie lived in. Sure enough, within a few more blocks, Count Volger had pulled her through a gate and up to the back door of Elsie's home where she collapsed on the doorstep. He knocked impatiently at the wooden door and then finally looked down at her.

"Are you alright, _Mr. _Sharp?" He said, as if they were still on the _Leviathan _and this had been one of her fencing lessons.

She just glared at him, not bothering to grace him with an answer. He was nothing but a large bag of yuckum in her mind and she had no intention of amusing him, even if he had just saved her.

A moment later the door opened and a large round face was looking down one them. Elsie's cook was a very tall German woman, nearly six inches taller than Volger. Deryn remembered her from the kitchen before and how unhelpful the woman had been when it came to cooking Austrian desserts.

The cook looked down at them both with a strange mixture of curiosity and worry. She was very plump and each of her breasts was the same size as Volger's head. Deryn couldn't help but smile when she saw a trace of fear in Volger's eyes when he looked up at her. She was certain the cook could snap his saber in two with one hand tied behind her back.

The Wildcount cleared his throat and asked politely in Clanker if they could come in. The cook gave them one more terrifying glare before opening to door all the way and letting them slide through.

Deryn followed the Count into the kitchen and was quickly lifted like a sack of potatoes and thrown over the shoulder of the cook. The woman began to shout at the Count loudly in German. Deryn could make out a few words such as _feet _and _blood_ but most of it sounded like curses. She couldn't see Volger's face but could hear him anxiously apologizing.

She heard the patter of small feet and saw the image of Elsie, upside-down and behind her. The ambassador's daughter also began to yell, but this time in English.

"Dylan? Is that you? What in heavens is going on? Count Volger, what are you doing here this early and for God's sake Minnie, put the poor boy down!"

Slowly, the cook lowered her into a kitchen chair and Deryn almost fainted from the blood rushing back out of her head. When her eyes cleared she saw Elsie staring at her, her dress, and her feet.

Barking spiders this was going to take a lot of explaining.

Luckily Count Volger did all of the talking, and it was mainly loud mouth Clanker so Deryn couldn't follow very well anyways. She held her head in her hands and looked down at her disfigured feet which were stinging from the sudden heat of the house.

"Get him…umm I mean _her _upstairs. I'll draw a bath and get Niles to find her some dry clothes." With that, Elsie turned on her heal and marched out of the kitchen.

Moments later, Deryn was carried potato style back up to her old room. She was stripped out of the dress and dumped into the bathtub where Elsie herself scrubbed her hair and back. Afterwards the cook wrapped her feet in linens and Elsie helped her into a silk nightgown.

Elsie asked her a few questions about dressing as a boy, but Deryn wasn't listening and didn't reply. The girl seemed to get the hint and continued to help her into bed in silence.

They brought her up a hot bowl of broth and tea and Elsie insisted on watching her and making sure she ate the entire thing. Deryn wanted them to leave and let her sleep, but the Count had come back and he and Elsie were not budging until they got some answers.

Where was Alek? Why had he run away? Was the boffin with him? If so, why had she run after him? And did any of this have to do with the_ Demon? _ Why was Deryn in a dress? Did she know anything about the British Embassy? Where was British Ambassador now? And why on earth was Deryn running around Tokyo half naked by herself?

She answered what she could, which didn't seem to appease their curiosity. Elsie continued to look confused and Count Volger just looked angry. Eventually she got them to leave when she started to yell at them.

"I don't know why he did it! I just woke up and he wasn't in the hotel room anymore so I got up and looked out the window. He was running toward the river so I decided to follow him and make sure the blundering ninny didn't hurt himself."

"But he did hurt himself." Volger said.

"Aye, he was shot with one of those humming birds." She grumbled. She really didn't want to talk about Alek.

"And he killed the _Demon,_ you're sure of that?" Elsie repeated for the fifth time.

"I don't know, I didn't see him do it! It was already in the river when I got there. Now would you stop badgering me and go away! I told you everything, now let me sleep!"

They seemed to finally understand her and sat for a moment just staring at one another. She watched them stand and quietly exit the room while looking back at her suspiciously. Deryn found that she didn't care anymore. Let them think all they wanted about her with those clart filled noble heads of theirs.

She realized that Alek was probably in a whole lot of trouble, which made her feel a bit better. Another thought came to her and she wondered if she would have to talk to Alek again. That made her shudder. Her whole point in running away was that she needed to get away from these people. She didn't belong with the Archduke anymore, especially now that she was a girl again. Her time on the _Leviathan _was over because Dr. Barlow was going to kick her bum off the ship and her only option had been running away.

It was true that she hadn't come up with where she would go yet. Something inside her crushed as she realized she would never fly again. And another heartache descended upon her when she thought of never seeing Alek again. But it was for the best, she knew.

However, now that she was at Elsie's house with Volger here as well, she may be stuck with the seeing the prince again. She couldn't tell if this made her happy or not. Her stupid girlie feelings wanted to see Alek more than anything, but Alek had been such an arse the other night that she didn't think she could take seeing him again.

With a groan she turned over on her stomach and threw the pillow over her head.

_Damn stupid barking prince! _She thought, trying without success to push the idea of his dark green eyes and soft lips out of her mind.

"And you had to go and kiss him too, you _dummkopf!" _She grumbled to herself.


	13. Chapter 13

It took three days before Deryn could walk properly again. Although they weren't the worst three days of her life. She was pampered with fine silks to wear and delicious food, even if it was a bit boring sitting in bed all the time. At least she got to catch up on all the sleep she had missed.

On the third morning she finally got the energy to walk downstairs. Elsie was sitting in the parlor next to a young man who Deryn recognized as Dr. Higginz, the British Ambassador. They were both drinking tea and reading Japanese newspapers. When Deryn walked into the room, Elsie greeted her with a large smile.

"Gutentag, Miss Sharp. I'm glad to see you up and about. How are you feeling?"

"Loads better, thanks." She sat down next to Elsie on a red velvet sofa.

"Good. I was hoping to have a serious conversation with you once your health had improved. Is now alright?"

Deryn shrugged,

"I guess. Why, what is it?" Something in her gut gave her the idea that Elsie had bad news.

"You remember Mr. Higginz?" Deryn nodded and saw the Japanese man give a polite bow of the head.

"Charmed." He said, and Deryn heard his strong London accent which surprised her coming from an Asian man.

"I've told him about your…er….predicament, and I assure you we are both sympathetic toward your distraught." Deryn gave another nod, wondering where they were going with this.

"For the record," Elsie continued, "Count Volger wishes you well, but he had to return to the _Leviathan _yesterday. The Captain has ordered a strict guard on Alek and all his men."

_Serves him right. _Deryn thought, not about the Count but about Alek. He deserved to be under lock and key after nearly killing himself and destroying a fabrication of the British Navy. Yet she couldn't help but worry about him as well.

"How is he?" She blurted quickly.

"I haven't heard from them, but I would guess that Alek is fine." Elsie said without completely making eye contact. She seemed a little unsure with her own statement.

"We have been worried about Prince Aleksander's well being," Dr. Higginz stated, "and that's what we need to talk to you about."

"Did the wound get infected? I tried to clean it, but it was a barking bird beak! You know those things are designed to…"

"I'm sure Alek has the best care possible on the ship." The doctor interrupted her. "What we need to discuss is his current status with the Japanese government."

"Now Deryn, I've asked you several times, but once again, are you sure that Alek may have been responsible for the death of the _Demon._" Elsie looked at her with those crystal blue eyes that seemed to stab right into her soul.

"Ummm, yeah. Dr. Barlow said he did it, and he didn't argue with her."

Elsie sighed and gave the Ambassador a sad look.

"I guess we have no other choice then." She said, "Deryn, we are going to have to ask you a for a very big, and very dangerous favor."

"What's that?" Deryn didn't take her eyes off of Elsie's face.

"Alek is in danger. The Emperor wants him dead. They believe he is a spy working for the Germans."

It shouldn't have come as a surprise, but Deryn felt her mouth drop open anyways.

"Alek can't be a spy!" She finally got herself to speak. "He's just a boy, a very self centered ninny boy with clart for brains."

Elsie smiled at her remark.

"That very well may be but those things are reasons he would make a good spy as well. He's not the expected spy persona, which makes him trustworthy with secret information."

"So YOU think he's a spy."

"No, I'm saying that Emperor Taisho does. And whether he is right or not, Alek does know too much about the _Golaith _for his own good."

"You really think that Alek would blether the whole barking idea about the beastie to the Germans? He hates the Germans! They killed his folks!"

Elsie gave a shrug and lifted one eyebrow.

"I think there is a possibility that he might." She said. Deryn suddenly remembered that Elsie was German herself and quickly shut her mouth. Alek had been against the idea of bombing Tsingtau since the beginning. Trading himself in to the Germans to save thousands of people from the _Demon_ was something so daft and noble that she was certain his princeliness would do it.

But why would that matter now? The _Demon _was already long dead at the bottom of the river. Alek had already ruined the Emperor's plan.

Elsie seemed to know what Deryn was thinking.

"Just because the _Demon_ is dead doesn't mean the Japanese will stop their attacks on Tsingtau. It's an important Chinese port town that the Emperor has had his eye on for years. If he can take it from the Germans, then Japan will have a direct trade route with China."

Deryn could see where this was going.

"So they have to stop Alek from letting the Germans know about future attacks." She said. Elsie nodded.

"Exactly." Dr. Higginz chimed in. "We all can agree that Alek's safety is important. I for one know that he may be the ticket to an alliance between Austia-Hungary and Great Britain. We cannot let the Emperor kill him."

They were both staring at her. Once again it seemed that the fate of the war might be resting on Deryn's shoulders.

"What do you want me to do?"

Elsie grinned at her.

"Have you ever been to a ball, Deryn?"

"A …._what?"_

"I didn't think so. In that case, consider yourself lucky. The Emperor is holding a formal dance and dinner for the officers of the _Leviathan. _He states that it is a farewell ceremony to commemorate the visit of the ship since the airship will be leaving Japan tomorrow." She nodded at Dr. Higginz who pulled out a fancy parchment envelope from his jacket pocket.

It was a handwritten invitation asking for the Lady Elsie Adaliz Eberhardt's attendance at the palace for dinner and dancing. Deryn noticed that it was written in both Japanese and English.

"All of the nobility in Tokyo have been invited, as well as the Prince of Austia-Hungary, of course."

"I thought the Emperor wanted to kill Alek, not invite him to a ball and feed him a barking dinner."

"True enough." Dr. Higginz said. "I have information from the Emperor himself that he plans on kidnapping the prince on this very night. With the entire crew of the _Leviathan _back on the ship and the officers all distracted at the party, Aleksander will be an easy target. Captain Hobbes won't even realize he's gone until morning."

"By which time Alek will be disposed of." Elsie said. She took a sip of her tea and gave Deryn a very serious look.

"Well, then we have to warn him!" Deryn stood. She was still wearing her silk nightgown and a pair of pink slippers, so she must not have looked very convincing. Both the doctor and Elsie laughed.

"I wish it was that simple." Elsie finally said, putting down her tea cup. "But do you really think that anyone on the _Leviathan _will trust us? What with me being the daughter of the German Ambassador and you being, well, you." She gestured toward Deryn's outfit with an open palm. Deryn blushed.

Had the Lady Boffin told the Captain about her secret? She shivered again, imagining her crew mates suddenly realizing her true identity. What would Newkirk say? Or the bosun?

And with Alek and his men under guard she would never be able to reach them without someone onboard seeing her.

"We will have to stop the Emperor at the ball." Elsie answered for her. "Thankfully I will have you to help. It comes in handy to have someone with fighting skills and the training of a soldier on your side. I'm very glad you ended up on my doorstep the other day."

"What exactly am I going to do?" Deryn asked, realizing that she didn't have much choice in the matter.

"You will be attending the ball with me as my lady in waiting."

"Say what?"

Dr. Higginz sighed. "When Aleksander cut down the _Demon_ the British Army recognized and identified you as well when you pulled him out of the river."

"Meaning they recognized Dylan Sharp, a middie from the _Leviathan._" Elsie included. "If Dylan Sharp were to come to the ball, he would be arrested and killed along with the Prince. Seeing as that you two were in cohorts to destroy the _Demon._ As a woman, you would be unnoticed."

This was much more serious than Deryn could have ever realized on her own.

"Blisters!" She swore. "Alek you DUMMKOPF!"

"And that is one thing we will have to be changing." Dr. Higginz winced.

"What?" Deryn glared at him.

"Your language, Miss Sharp." Elsie grinned. "A lady in waiting would never be plagued with such a foul tongue."

Deryn grimaced. What had she gotten herself into?

* * *

"Repeat after me," Dr. Higginz said. "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plane."

"The rie-aine in Spi-aine falls on the bloody plane." Deryn mumbled. She had repeated the phrase nearly seventy times, and was content on making it worse each repeat.

"Now Deryn, if you don't try we will never be able to…"

"And what if I don't bloody well care!" She shouted in his face.

Dr. Higginz sighed and rose from his seat.

"FINE!" He suddenly shouted back at her. "I give up! Go get yourself killed for all I care!"

As he stomped out of the room Deryn adjusted herself awkwardly. She felt bad for upsetting the doctor, but he had to understand that this was incredibly miserable for her.

Across the room was a full length mirror and Deryn examined herself in the reflection. The dress they had squeezed her in was a dark gray blue that matched her steel colored eyes. She stood to get a better look.

The hem had been let out in the skirt otherwise it would have been too short. The sleeves had to be lengthened and the neckline was all wrong. But Deryn had to admit that she had never looked this nice before. She turned to examine the back. It was laced tightly to her skin so she could make out the fine curves of her hips and shoulders, something she had never noticed before. Even the corset underneath, although incredibly uncomfortable, brought out her breasts in a way that made her blush. She looked like a woman.

Except for her hair. She fiddled with it unnecessarily for a moment, trying to puff it up and make it more feminine, but it was useless. Annoyed, she sat back down in the chair which was very difficult with all the petticoats.

"Miss Sharp!" Came a squeak from door. Deryn turned in enough time to see Elsie bound into the room in a swirl of fabric and sparkles. Her dress was blue as well, but a pale delicate color with embroidered beads and lace. In comparison, Deryn looked like a piece of metal.

"Only three more hours until the event!" Elsie squealed. She had been counting down since that morning when they had first let Deryn in on the plan. It seemed kind of weird that she was so excited about something so corrupt and dangerous.

"You know, if I didn't know better I would think you were actually looking forward to this barking mess." Deryn said grumpily.

Elsie laughed. "In a way I am. I'm excited about your big reveal!"

"Big reveal? We're doing this so they don't know who I am, remember?"

"Maybe." Elsie winked at her. "Or maybe there is a certain someone whose expression I am dying to see when he sees you."

Deryn snorted. She could only imagine what that meant. Be it Elsie to use every card trick she had to get back at Alek. She wondered if this was just another trick to embarrass him and Deryn both.

Elsie pulled another chair over to where Deryn was sitting and plopped down in front of her. In her hands was a large wooden box and what looked like a small dead animal.

"What is that?" Deryn yelped and tried to push herself away.

"This," Elsie raised the dead looking clump of hair up to her face, "is a hairpiece. Lucky for you I was able to find it."

"Like a wig? Um, no thanks, that's gross. Hey Stop!"

Before she could fight back Elsie had pulled her head forward and began pinning the wig to Deryn's scalp. It was a painful process, like everything else that involved being a lady. When she was finally done she pushed Deryn toward the mirror without another word.

It was nothing short of amazing. She had been transformed into a different person. The wig was long and curled perfectly down to Deryn's shoulders. The pins ended in elegant little pearls that sat like a small tiara on her head. Even her own hair, which was visible beneath the wig, matched perfectly and gave her the added appearance of lengthy bangs and fancy wisps.

"It's beautiful." Deryn gasped. She turned around, ready to see a smug 'I told you so' look on Elsie's face. But instead, the girl's eyes were moist and she could hear a faint few sniffs.

"I'm sorry." Elsie said. "You just.. ..it's just…"

Deryn put up her hand to stop her. "Your sister, I remember." And she did remember. The girl who had died so young that had the same hair color as her.

Elsie nodded.

"That was her hair piece." She gave a sad smile and wiped her eyes. "I'm just glad that someone will get to wear it."

She stopped looking at Deryn for a moment and pulled out the wooden box again. Inside was a collection of jewelry.

"It's not much," Elsie began, "When my father was arrested, most of the family inheritance including the jewels were taken." She pulled out a handful of diamond chains and earrings. Deryn's eyes widened. It looked like a lot to her.

"That's awful." She was able to mutter, hopefully hiding the shock of seeing so many large rocks.

"I miss him a lot." Elsie said, and gently hooked a golden chain around Deryn's neck. The charm was a large cameo pendant, a woman's portrait carved in ivory. "The Japanese didn't trust him and locked him away nearly five months ago."

"Why?" Deryn had to ask. She let her fingers trace the outline of the cameo on her clavicle.

Elise shrugged.

"Something about religious preferences. At least he's safe. It was different in Germany when they forced us out of the country simply because we were Jewish. After that my mother left us. She stayed in Frankfurt while we moved to Japan."

Deryn stared at Elsie, amazed at how matter of fact she was about the situation. She had, of course, witnessed anti-Semitism back home in Glasgow, but it had never been anything more serious than a few crude remarks. The Jews in her neighborhood were very different than Elsie. They lived in their own section of town, wore funny hats and beards and stayed away from the rest of the world. Her father had explained that people were not kind to them and that's why they stayed away. She knew that this was especially true in Germany and Austria, the Clankers could be extremely hateful. Although she couldn't imagine Alek being like that. He had wanted to marry Elsie, didn't he?

She gave the other girl a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Don't worry. Once we get Alek out of this mess, maybe he can get your da out."

Elsie gave her a kind but depressing grin.

"I hope you're right Deryn" She said, pulling out some rings and gems. "Do you like the necklace? It was my grandmother's. Here, I have some things that will match."

Together they strung some diamonds in her hair and some more chains around her neck. Deryn didn't have pierced ears so they put on some clip earrings that dangled sweetly next to her neck. Her fingers were laced with rings and afterwards Elsie painted her lips with a red wax and brushed her eyelashes with ink.

"There," Elsie said and turned her toward the mirror. "you're done."

Jaspert would have said she looked like a bumrag, what with all the clart smeared on her face, but Deryn couldn't help but beam and grin.

"Barking spiders! I look like a blistering princess dressed to the sixes and sevens!"

"Watch your tongue Lady Deryn." Elsie remarked. "And hurry downstairs or we'll be late."

Deryn quickly dashed out of the room, a mixture of excitement and fear fluttered in her stomach. She was like Cinderella. Only Cinderella had never been an airman.

* * *

_I just realized the other day what a "bumrag" actually is. That's right people! It's 1914 TOILET PAPER! That 's why I added in that little bit about clart and all, what with clart meaning shit. I know, super gross. Har de har har._


	14. Chapter 14

Of all the formal balls Alek had been to, this one was by far the strangest. Groups of people flocked around the servants to acquire small parcels of food or drinks. But the servants weren't people. Instead, tall fabricated birds that resembled swans on horse legs pranced around the ball room with trays of food on their backs. One of them stopped in front of Alek and honked.

"Ummm, thanks but I'm not that hungry." Alek said to the swan. Newkirk gave a nervous laugh beside him.

"He can't understand you, your highness. " He said, then grabbed some food from the swan's back and put it on his plate. Alek could tell that the other boy was shaking. Newkirk was as scared of the fabrications as Alek was, if not more so, but he pretended to be fine with them.

Alek couldn't tell what the food was until Newkirk lowered it for him to see. Due to his recent injury, Alek had been confined to a wheelchair, and wouldn't be allowed to leave it for another two weeks. The arrowhead had been removed skillfully, but it had torn a few muscles and Doctor Barlow had insisted that he remain in bed or in the wheelchair until it was completely healed. Which was complete ludicrous, seeing as that he could walk just fine, albeit a little painfully. It was worse than when he had been shot by the airgun and bruised a rib. However he didn't think he needed to be treated like he was mortally wounded.

"Jesus Christ, shrimp!" Mr. Newkirk said joyfully, pulling some more food from the swan. "mmmfphthis is sooo good!" He finished what remained on his plate with a gusto that made Alek slightly sick. Licking his fingers, Newkirk looked down at Alek nervously. "Why isn't it leaving?" He said, gesturing to the swan.

Alek shrugged. "Perhaps it likes you."

Newkirk timidly placed his dirty plate and handful of shrimp shells and tails back with the clean food on the swan. "Off you go then." He said to the large bird and gave it a slight slap on the rump. The beast gave a loud honk which startled a group of young women nearby before shoving off Newkirk's dirty plate onto the ground with a huge clatter. Newkirk quickly apologized to the women, and to the swan, before ducking down and clumsily picking up the shattered plate.

Alek rolled his eyes and lowered his face into one of his hands. Newkirk was a kind young man, but he wasn't the brightest. And his manners left much to be improved. But Alek was stuck with him until the _Leviathan _took everyone back to England. He and the rest of his men were under strict guard, meaning that each of them had to be attended by at least one crewman at all times. It was all thanks to Alek and his actions the previous night.

He didn't mind Newkirk's company. He guessed that the midshipman had been charged with Alek as a prisoner since it couldn't be too difficult to guard someone in a wheelchair. Klopp, Bauer and Hoffman all had much more aggressive looking guards, and Volger had two. He could see the Count across the room holding a glass of wine and in deep conversation with Dr. Barlow. They looked like they were arguing about something and she was winning. She had a huge grin and Volger was red in the face with anger. Not far behind them were Volger's guards; two gruff looking men whom Alek had seen working on the ship's rigging.

Alek sighed. He hadn't spoken to the Count since before his injury. It seemed like the man had been avoiding him. Barlow would visit him occasionally to check on his wounds, but either than that the past few days had been extremely lonely and boring. All he had had for company were Bovril and Newkirk, neither of which could hold much of a conversation.

"Ouch!" Newkirk said from beside him. He had cut himself on the broken shards of glass from the plate. He glanced back at the women nearby who had ignored him and gone back to their talking. When he seemed appeased that no one was watching him, Newkirk ducked behind Alek near the wall and dumped the shattered plate into a plant fixture.

"If I didn't know better, I would guess that you've been to many balls before." Alek said sarcastically.

"Aye,… I mean, no I haven't." The boy responded, completely oblivious to Alek's sarcasm. "It's quite amazing, isn't it, with all the food and the gigantic birds?" He motioned to the swan with a shudder. "You know who would have loved this? Dylan."

Alek groaned. He hated it whenever Newkirk mentioned the other middie's name. It just reminded him more that Dylan wasn't there. And be it as it may, Alek _missed _Dylan. Especially now since he was so lonely all the time. At first he had been happy that Newkirk would be his guard. He had hoped to start a friendship with this new boy to replace the one he had had before. Unfortunately, that was not nearly the case. Newkirk left a lot to be desired and everywhere he was lacking made Alek remember what he had in Dylan. Not that Newkirk was a bad sort; there just wasn't the spark and connection that Alek had witnessed before. Plus it didn't help that Newkirk brought up Dylan in conversation all the time.

"It really is a shame," Newkirk continued, "He was so young and all, and…I never even got to say goodbye." Alek turned to see that the fool was blubbering all over his nice new shirt.

"Calm down Newkirk, you know he died in honor…" Even now, after saying the lie a dozen times before, Alek still sounded fuzzy. It had been Dr. Barlow's idea really, to pretend that Dylan had died. Therefore no one would go looking for him and he could disappear into Tokyo without any shame. In a way Alek had come to even believe it. He was mourning the loss of his friend whom he would never see again. And _the girl_ whom Dylan (if that even was her real name) had turned out to be was nothing more than another person who just looked like his dead friend. It was easier to think of that way, instead of realizing that he had been betrayed and lied to this entire time.

People seemed to believe Alek, even though he was a horrible liar. His misery must have looked like true loss, which in a way it was. It was almost as bad as when his parents had been taken from him too soon. Only this time he had lost his best friend.

_She's still alive you idiot! You could go find her if you looked harder! _Quickly, Alek shook his head to push the ideas away. They were the thoughts that kept creeping into his mind late at night and when he found himself daydreaming about Dylan. Which was crazy! Why was he daydreaming about Dylan? But he couldn't help but wonder if she was alright. The last time he had seen her she was wearing practically nothing and almost frozen to death before she ran out into the street, alone. He remembered the horrible things he had said to her and felt awful that he was never able to apologize.

Other thoughts swarmed into his mind, the ones that he tried the hardest to bury.

_I must have known. _He thought _I must have known that he was a girl. _It had been plaguing him for days. How could he not have seen that he was a **she**. Was he that stupid? Or worse, had he really known all along and just didn't want to admit it to himself until it was staring him right in the face.

He remembered the softness of the girl's skin, or the bronze gold of her hair. That time they had shared a bed and he had seen her graceful neck and shoulders. He felt prickles climb up his spine and quivered. Then he remembered when she had kissed him and let his mind linger on that thought for a moment.

"Arghhh!" He suddenly shouted and pounded his head with his fist.

"Alek, are you alright?" Newkirk said, looking suddenly concerned.

"I'm fine," He lied. Newkirk began to ask him another question but was interrupted when the music started. The orchestra at the other end of the hall started a jaunty tune that Alek recognized as a waltz. Couples began to form and Alek and Newkirk watched from the side for a few minutes as the people began to dance.

From his seat, Alek could make out a few familiar faces. The officers and such from the _Leviathan _had made there way over to the giggling herd of women nearby. One by one they would ask one of the ladies to dance and she would comply with a curtsy and a flutter of skirts. Alek was familiar with the game, he had been to plenty of balls before. Asking a woman to dance never meant anything serious, but it took an awful lot of bravery to do so. Next to him, Newkirk was shivering and Alek could tell he was thinking the same thing.

"They are very pretty." He mumbled. "Girls never dress up like that back home." Alek nodded in agreement, suddenly aware of how awkward the situation was. He saw a few of the women eye him up suspiciously. A visiting Clanker prince was probably a bit of an anomaly. One of them gave him a wink and a smile and he quickly turned away, embarrassed and annoyed.

From the corner of his eye he saw Klopp bowing to a plump, overly dressed Japanese woman, then scoop her into his arms and whisk her across the floor. Bauer was kissing the hand of a pretty red head whose face had turned the color of her hair. A few meters away he witnessed Dr. Barlow dragging Count Volger onto the floor. He looked downright miserable but danced with her gracefully all the same. When they waltzed by, Alek thought he saw the man smiling. The whole thing made Alek want to punch something, although he couldn't really understand why.

He didn't notice that a woman had stopped in front of him until she had cleared her throat.

"Prince Aleksander Ferdinand, it is lovely to see you doing well." The words were in German, and when he looked up he saw Elsie smiling down on him.

_Great. _He thought. _ The very last person I wanted to see. _He scowled at his cousin.

"Well, don't look too happy to see me." She said with a tad of anger. "I know we didn't leave each other last time on the best note, but I thought I could make up for that by introducing you to my friend." She lifted her palm and gestured to a tall pretty blond standing on her left. The other girl fluttered a fan nervously in front of her face and curtsied. "Alek, this is Lady Deryn."

_Good God Elsie, what are you scheming at now? _He could only imagine what horrible plot his cousin could be considering and hoped that this poor girl wasn't being fooled as well.

"Perhaps you could join her in a dance? Or seeing that you are…..unqualified for dancing at the present time, maybe a walk in the garden?"

Obviously she was trying to set him up with one of her ladies in waiting. As if that wasn't a blow to his parentage and self pride enough, she had dared to ask him to dance with this girl when he clearly couldn't.

"I don't know what you're plotting at cuz," he said in English so the other girl would hopefully not understand, "but I won't let you take advantage of me again. So, no, I will not dance or walk with your supposed friend. I assume she's just a lackey of yours, here to trick me and besides, I'm not in the mood."

Elsie narrowed her icy blue eyes. She considered Alek for a long moment. Suddenly ashamed, he looked to the tall girl and started to apologize to her in German, but she looked so angry that Alek had to turn away. Perhaps she could understand English. If so, refusing to accompany her was a personal blow and he had probably hurt her feelings without meaning to. _God Dammit Elsie, you just did this to make me look bad. _

"Very well then." Elsie said in German, then to the other girl in English, "Why don't we get something to drink, I'm afraid that my cousin is a bit of an idiot." She left then, and the tall girl stood for a few more seconds in silence just glaring at Alek. He couldn't look her in the eye and instead grumbled another apology to his feet, this time in English. The girl finally followed after Elsie, the fan still covering the majority of her face as if to hide her anger.

"That wasn't very nice of you." Alek jumped. He had completely forgotten that Newkirk was there. "She seemed like a nice girl." The midshipman was watching the two girls in blue walk back towards the other side of the ball. "You know, she looked kind of familiar."

Alek grumbled a curse. Of all the things to happen, he didn't expect to be scolded by Newkirk.

They watched the dancing for a few more minutes. Alek was trying to hide his newfound need to kick something, but Newkirk seemed pretty happy, he was even eating more shrimp.

A balding Japanese man that Alek recognized as Magistrate Kadashi, whom he had met on his first night at the palace, walked up to him and bowed.

"Your Majesty, the Emperor wishes to speak with you," he said quietly, then looked at Newkirk, "alone." Alek understood and asked Newkirk if that would be alright. The boy shrugged and continued slurping down his shrimp. Without another look back, Kadashi spun Alek's chair around and began to wheel him away from the party and down another hallway.

The ballroom had been immense, decked with marble and gold trim. When they left the room Alek had been expecting an equally fancy throne room where he would greet the Emperor. However, the hallway he was being pushed down was dark and eerie, completely opposite from the cheery ballroom.

He had barely seen the Emperor all night, which had been a relief up until now. He wasn't looking forward to talking to the half beast half shriveled person.

At the end of the hall Alek could make out three tall muscular men all dressed in black uniforms. They stood in front of a pair of double doors and didn't move to open them. He could tell that they were white, which was strange since he thought that most of the Emperor's servants had been Japanese.

They never reached the end of the hall. Instead, Alek heard Kadashi give a muffled cry and suddenly his wheelchair was spun around and he was being pushed in the opposite direction. He heard the men yelling angry curses behind him and turned around in his chair to see that the person pushing him was not Kadashi, but the tall blond girl from the dance.

"HEY! What are you doing?" He yelled at her. She ignored him and continued to run him down the hall. They turned into one of the many elevators in the palace that were used to carry the Emperor from floor to floor. "I demand that you unhand me this instant!" He shouted without looking at her. He was too busy watching Kadashi and the other men try to scramble to the elevator but the doors shut before they could get there. "This is ridiculous! What an earth do you think you are doing? I'm sorry I didn't dance with you earlier, but as you can see I…"

"Shut your barking mouth Alek! You know I can't understand you when you're talking Clanker!" As she struggled to pull the gears for the elevator he finally turned to look at her fully. When he saw her face his mouth dropped in shock.

"YOU!" He said, instantly switching to English.

"Aye, it's me." She said, pushing the highest button on the elevator switchboard causing the contraption to rise. He didn't speak to her for a few moments, just sat and stared. He couldn't help it.

"You look…uh…beautif.., um I mean, different. And why are you here! You can't just take me from the Emperor's…"

"I can if I'm saving your bloody arse!"

"Wait, what?"

"They're going to kill you Alek! The Emperor and his lot want you dead thanks to that lousy stunt you did. I had to get you out of that ball. Which would have been a lot easier if you weren't being such a sissy pants and danced with me."

"What? I don't believe you!"

"He thinks you're some sort of spy, what with you killing the _Demon _and all."

Alek was still so shocked by seeing her that he wasn't registering what she was saying and just stared at her more. She gave up talking to him and collapsed on the floor when she realized he wasn't going to answer her.

"Blisters, my feet are killing me." She mumbled, then lifted up her skirts and began to remove her shoes while sitting on the floor of the elevator. Alek blushed and turned away realizing the ample view he had of her legs and petticoats.

"You really don't know how to act like a lady, do you?" He said. She gave him an angry look but continued to remove her shoes.

"Well, it's not my fault that they make these things so goddamn painful. I don't know how women walk in them all the time." He looked back to see her stocking feet wrapped in bandages and bleeding through.

"Good heavens, what happened to you?"

"Nothing, just running around the streets of Tokyo, barefoot. I had misplaced my boots that night, perhaps you remember." She had a twinge of anger in her voice, and Alek felt a wave of guilt wash over him.

"I'm really sorry." He sputtered out, suddenly realizing his chance to apologize. "I didn't know you had run off like that until it was too late. And…" He paused, finding it hard to speak. "I didn't mean to say those things to you, honestly, I was just…"

But he stopped because she was holding his hand.

"It's alright Alek." She whispered.

And that was all she had to say. They sat there just enjoying one another's company holding hands as the elevator eventually stopped. When the door opened they were staring at an empty hallway that was even darker than the first. She pulled her hand away from his and began to push him out into the hall.

"Dylan?" He stopped her by putting his feet out.

"Yes?" She answered without thinking.

"That isn't really your name, is it?" He looked back at her and saw that she was smiling.

"No dummkopf, weren't you listening to Elsie at all?" When he just looked at her confused she swatted him in the back of the head. "It's Deryn, Deryn Sharp."

"Deryn." He answered, rubbing his head were she had hit him. "I like that, it suits you."

She just beamed at him and continued to push him down the hall in silence. Even if the Emperor was trying to kill him, at that moment Aleksander didn't really care.


	15. Chapter 15

The hallways of the Emperor's palace were ridiculously long and numerous. Luckily, that would probably make it harder for their pursuers to catch them, but it did make escape from the palace quite tricky, seeing as how easy it was to get lost. Deryn realized it was a pretty stupid idea to take the elevator to the top floor. Now it would be even more difficult to get back downstairs and outside, especially with Alek in the barking wheelchair.

While pushing the chair in front of her, Deryn ran down the main hall and took a left down another passage which tilted downward. Perhaps it was a ramp.

Midway through the hall her stocking feet slipped on the marble floor and she fell with a loud curse. Alek's wheelchair, which she had let go of during the fall, was rushing toward the end of the hall without her.

"Alek, you dummkopf, STOP!" But it was too late. By the time Alek turned around and realized she was no longer pushing him, a tall man in black had swooped in front of him and pulled him out of the chair. She would have continued to scream but a large hand clamped her mouth shut.

"Now, now little one, we've had quite enough out of you." Said a smooth, terrifying voice. Deryn looked up from where she had fallen and saw another man in black holding her. He picked her up easily even though she was thrashing and kicking with all her might, and carried her out of the hallway. They went down a small staircase and into a dimly lit room where she was lowered into a wooden chair. Another man grabbed her wrists and tied them down to the arms of the chair so tightly it hurt.

She kicked as hard as she could; occasionally making contact with someone's body although she doubted it did much harm. Her pointy heels were back in elevator, useless.

"Let me go!" She screamed. "Get your filthy hands off of me, you son of a…"

SLAP

Deryn felt her cheek sting where he had hit her. She turned her head to face him, yelled some colorful words and spit right in his eye. That was rewarded with another slap. This time she held her tongue and looked the man straight on and fumed.

"That's better." He said. He had a plain face and a wiry build. His hair was black and he had a day's worth of stubble growing on his cheeks. She could make out the man who had tied her down standing to her left. He was shorter than the other but with a similar build and lighter hair. "You're a feisty little one, aren't you?" The first man added.

She tried to kick him again, but he threatened to hit her, so she stopped.

"Good, we understand each other." He grinned. "Now I need to ask you some questions."

She grimaced. Was this some sort of interrogation?

"Who are you?" The man asked. She didn't respond, only glared. He took a step back from her and nodded to the other man at her side. Without warning, Deryn had a pistol pointed at her temple. She gulped.

"Dddddderyn, Deryn Sharp."

"Sharp, huh? That's curious." He began to pace in front of her, his black boots clacking against the marble of the floor. "Would you happen to be related to a certain, Dylan Sharp?"

She didn't know what to say to that, just widened her eyes.

"I guess that's answer enough," he said with a grin, "so you were the midshipman that was friends with the Prince? Good to know. Now let me ask you this…" He stopped and faced her, placing each of his hands over her wrists and leaning down so they were eye to eye. "Why kill the _Demon_? What good does it do for you?"

She tried to squirm. "Bugger off, you ninny! I didn't kill anything!" He leaned even closer so their noses were almost touching. He pulled his right hand forward and she winced, thinking he would hit her again. But this time he brushed her cheek gently with his fingers.  
"You certainly are very pretty for having such a foul tongue. What do you think, Jenson, should we believe her?"

The other man shrugged in response and then walked behind the chair so Deryn couldn't see him. She could hear his footsteps come closer until he had leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"I think she's telling the truth sir, but I wouldn't mind some further questioning m'self, just for the fun of it." He gently wrapped his fingers around her shoulders and squeezed.

Deryn felt her breath catch and her skin grow cold. This was not good. She began to kick harder than before, and screamed.

"HELP! Please, someone! Alek, HELP ME!" Jenson clamped his hand over her mouth and the man in front of her held down her legs. She suddenly realized, horrified, that his hands were beneath her dress and sliding dangerously upward.

"Your friend can't hear you now, sweetling, so be good and stay quiet. Otherwise this will be a lot more painful than it needs to be." Jenson let go of her mouth and moved to unbutton her blouse. She took that moment to lean down and bite him, hard, on his upper arm. Immediately he let go of her, swearing. The other man who was holding her legs stopped for a moment in confusion. It was enough time for her to pull one leg free and knee him with all her strength, right in the nose.

"ARGHH!" He screamed, standing up and glaring down at her with a fire she hadn't seen before. "You little bitch!" His nose was bleeding profusely, and she managed a bit of a smile, realizing that she had broken it. But before she could answer him, he had shoved her, chair over heals onto the marble floor. Her head hit the ground with a loud thud, and she screamed in pain. Suddenly they were untying her from the chair and pushing her down onto the floor with their weight. She tried to fight back but the two of them together were too strong and the dress was horribly difficult to kick in. All she could do was scream and pray that someone would hear her.

* * *

_This chapter was REALLY long. So I split into two. Therefore ch 15 and 16 are being posted at the same time_


	16. Chapter 16

_This is the second new chapter I posted today. Make sure you read ch 15 before you get to this one. Thanks!_

* * *

The man that had pulled Alek out of his wheelchair was a giant. His arms felt like large anacondas gripping him around the chest so tightly he couldn't breathe. When he was finally released, Alek had been carried to another room without realizing it.

The large beast of a man threw him onto the floor with a grunt. Alek winced from the pain in his side, but managed to open his eyes to take in his surroundings. Two other men stood next to the large one. They both had their arms crossed and wore identical black suits. He thought he recognized them from the hallway downstairs.

"Aleksander Ferdinand." Said the one on the right. "I'm ashamed that this has to be done, what with you being so young, but I'm sure you understand that orders are orders and have to be obeyed." Beside him, the man in the middle raised a revolver and pointed it between Alek's eyes.

Somehow Alek was able to duck in time before the bullet was shot. It whooshed over his head and he could feel the wind from it brush through his hair. Quickly he stood and ran from the men with a sudden burst of strength. He ignored the pain in his side and dashed for the door on the other side of the room. The men in black suits were so shocked that he was no longer handicapped they forgot to run after him, and Alek dashed out into the hallway, slamming the door behind him and running in a random direction.

It didn't take him long to hear them following him, so he rushed into another hallway, through an open door to an empty bedroom and shuffle behind a curtain near a window. As cliché a hiding spot as it may be, the men didn't follow him into the room. Instead he heard them scamper off down the hallway, yelling threats and curses.

Alek sat for a moment, trying to gasp for breath without making any noise. He listened to his pursuers' footsteps fade and realized that he was hearing another, even more terrifying sound. It was a woman screaming.

He moved the curtain to hear it better. It sounded like Deryn's voice, although he had never heard her scream with such agony and fear. He was instantly afraid for her and felt the need to find and protect her.

He scrambled out of the bedroom and into the dark hallway again. The screaming was coming from a room at the other end of the corridor so he scampered toward it, ignoring his limp from the wound. He came to the only doorway with light flooding under and made to open it, but it was locked. He pounded on the door and the screams coming from inside stopped for a moment.

"Who is it?" Said a deep silky voice. Alek didn't answer, but lowered his eye to the keyhole so he could peer inside.

It looked like a small meeting room with a long wooden table and a scattering of chairs. It was very dimly lit so he could barely make out the figures of two men huddling over a body. Both men had their faces pointed to the door, but lowered them back to the body once they realized that no one was answering them.

The body suddenly moved and Alek recognized a face beneath a layer of dark blue silk, it was Deryn. He felt his heart leap into his throat as one of the men flipped her on her back and the other began to lift up her skirts and try to pull her legs apart. She started to scream again and cuss, giving the first man a good smack with her fist, and to Alek surprise he smacked her right back, which caused her cry out in a high pitched screech.

Alek felt his blood boil and he clenched his jaw causing the veins in his neck to bulge. _How dare they do that to her! Those monsters! I'll kill them!_

Before thinking it through, he had lifted his leg and kicked the door handle so hard it snapped off. All that remained was a hole where the handle had been and a severe twitching pain in Alek's wounded side.

But he didn't stop to assess it. Instead he pushed his way through the door and across the room. The men stared at him in silence until he had his hands around one of their throats.

That didn't last long. The other man, who was taller, pulled Alek off of his companion.

"Hey boy, enough of that." He stood Alek up and took a good look at him. "You must be Prince Aleksander, how did you..?"

Alek didn't let him finish and instantly drew his sword from his hip. The other man grinned and drew his own sword. His was a long soldier's blade where as Alek's was only a dull dress sword that he had worn for the ball. It wasn't a fair match, but Alek moved into the fencing stance anyhow.

"So, the archduke of Austria is challenging me to a fencing match? What do you think Jenson, should a squash that little royal face of his?"

"If you must, General, I think he was supposed to be killed by now anyways." Said the man on the floor. Alek saw from the corner of his eye that the man had his hands around Deryn's waist and her face looked petrified. Anger pushed through Alek's veins again and he raised his saber against the General in front of him. The man parried his thrust and blocked him, but Alek kept pushing forward. Once, twice, three times Alek swung his saber at the man, but he was blocked all three times. But his anger was so strong that he was able to pin the other man against the table, his sword pointed at his heart.

"Alek, behind you!" Deryn shouted, he spun around to face the shorter man named Jenson who had pulled out his sword as well. Alek swung his blade at him only to be matched by a strong block. Ignoring the fact that he had just turned his back to a General, Alek continued to swing at Jenson, the blood rushing in his ears.

BANG.

The sound was like lightening piecing through his brain. Alek smelled gunsmoke and froze. He whipped around only to see the General lying face down in a puddle of blood, his sword arm outstretched. Across from his body, Deryn was standing with a pistol in her hand still pointed at where the General had been standing. Her eyes were wide and staring directly in front of her. She seemed to be looking at something that wasn't there. Her lips were barred showing her teeth that were clenched together in a grimace. Alek felt himself step away from her in panic. She swiveled to point the gun at the other man.

"Drop the sword!" She shouted. He immediately let go of his weapon, which clattered onto the floor, and then lifted his hands above his head. Alek saw how terrified the man looked and turned back to Deryn.

"Now Deryn, think about what you are doing…."

"SHUT UP ALEK!" She held the gun to the other man's face, pondering whether to shoot or not. Jenson waited a few moments before he gained enough bravery to bolt out of the room and down the hallway. After his footsteps retreated, Alek was finally able to move.

He gently walked over to Deryn, who was still pointing the pistol and as he moved next to her, he realized that she was quivering.

"Let go of the gun Deryn, it's okay now, he's gone." But she didn't budge. Gradually he moved his hand to hers and pried her fingers off of the pistol. When he finally had it out of her grasp she fell to the floor and began to sob in large gasping heaves.

He didn't know what to do. He tried sitting next to her and putting a hand on her shoulder, but she just pushed him away. He tried talking to her, but she was obviously not listening. Finally he gave up, and slightly crying himself, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug.

She struggled against him violently, but he held tight and eventually she seemed to cave in and crumple into his shoulder.

"Did those men…did they…_hurt_ you, at all?" He didn't know how else to ask her. It plagued him to think of what they must have done, and that he wasn't there to stop them.

But Deryn was shaking her head. "They tried to," she whispered. "But I put up too much of a fight." The side of her mouth lifted in a bit of a grin and Alek felt his body relax with relief. Thank heavens he hadn't gotten here any later then he did.

A few minutes passed and Alek began to hear voices from the hallway. It occurred to him that Jenson must have run and told someone where they were and what had happened. Quickly, his mind focused again and he pulled Deryn to her feet.

"We have to get out of here! Come on!" With one hand around her wrist he pulled the frantic girl out of the blood bathed room and into the hall. However, he couldn't run very far without his side complaining smartly, so she offered him her shoulder to lean on and together they found an elevator which took them back to the first floor.

The elevator doors opened to the front hall, where hundreds of screaming and terrified people were pushing each other out of the way in order to escape outside. They were the guests from the ball, and Alek turned around to see that the ball room to his left was on fire. People were shoving past them, but Alek stood glued to the spot. He couldn't stop staring at the immense flames and listening to the screams of the guests and the frantic honks of the swans who were running out of the ball room in horror.

Deryn seemed to have gained her senses and steered him out of the front hall and outside with the remainder of the crowd. The people were headed towards the road where their carriages were parked, but Deryn was pushing Alek aside down a path into the imperial gardens beside the palace.

They ran in silence, and Alek had to clutch his side because the pain was suddenly overwhelming. But Deryn forced him to keep running. Even though she didn't say anything, Alek could feel the intensity of her driving him forward. She was determined to get him through the garden, and wouldn't let him rest for even a moment.

They passed tall flowering bushes, forests of bonsai trees and ponds that were filled with glow in the dark fish. Outside in the gardens the world was calm and untouched, the stars were shimmering and he could hear the faint gurgling of a fountain. Every so often he would turn his head and see the chaos of the palace shrinking in the distance behind him. The sounds of breaking windows and screams were dully quieted by the silence of the garden.

Finally Deryn let him stop and catch his breath. They were standing in front of a clump of trees and Alek was about to fall over in the grass when he saw something blue dash out of them.

It was Elsie. And in a tumble of skirts and sparkles she jumped into Deryn's arms and pulled the other girl into a fierce hug.

"Deryn! Thank goodness you're alright! And you were able to rescue Alek!" Deryn didn't look nearly as happy to see the German woman, and tried to pull Elsie off of her.

"Ach, Blisters, get off of me!" But Elsie refused to let go and Alek noted how uncomfortable Deryn looked. He suddenly rationalized that the poor girl probably didn't want anyone touching her after all that she had been through.

"Elsie, let go of her!" He painfully moved over and was able to pry his cousin off of Deryn. To his annoyance, she clamped onto him instead.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so happy that everyone is alright!" Elsie was slightly tearful, but she held Alek up so that he could find his footing and lean his weight on her.

"Don't mind her son; she's just over delighted that everything has gone according to her plan." Came a cheerful voice from the trees. Alek saw a short red haired man pat him on the shoulder and felt his own eyes twitch with tears.

"Uncle Derek?" He sniffed. The man nodded and then embraced Alek in a gruff hug. Alek might have misgivings about the man, but he looked so much like his father that it was hard not to hug him.

"Elsie's da?" He heard Deryn ask. "How did you get out here?"

Both Elsie and Uncle Derek gave similar grins.

"Note the fire," Elsie said, pointing back to the palace. "I was able to use that as a distraction and get down to the prison in order to rescue him."

"It was quite an ingenious idea, if I do say so myself." Said Uncle Derek.

"You started the fire!" Deryn looked between the both of them.

"No!" Elsie looked ashamed. "It was one of your midshipmen from the _Leviathan. _He knocked over the candelabra onto one of those giant geese. The poor creature ended up running into a curtain which set the whole room ablaze."

Alek groaned. "Newkirk, you fool!" He muttered under his breath.

"Originally, I thought that Deryn kidnapping Alek would be enough to distract the Emperor's men, but the fire proved to be quite an added bonus."

Something rustled the trees and Alek saw Count Volger and Klopp emerge behind him. He beamed at both of them and Klopp waddled over scooped up both Alek and Deryn into a large hug. Deryn pushed her way out of the embrace and Volger gave them all a disgusted sneer.

"I don't understand what everyone is so happy about." He mooned. "If you haven't noticed, there are people still inside that inferno."

That got everyone to be quiet. Alek saw that Volger looked especially worried.

"I'm pretty sure everyone got out in time." Alek tried to reassure him.

"I haven't seen Nora yet." He replied, almost to himself as if no one was listening. Alek shared a look with Deryn who had one eyebrow raised.

"Of course you haven't seen her, you loggerheaded count. We're too far away to see anything." Deryn grumbled. She walked away from them and began toward the trees. "Now where is that Clanker flying chipper thing you were talking about?"

Elsie answered. "You mean the Gyrocopters? They're behind the trees." She led them through the small tangle of branches to where two large flying contraptions were sitting in silence. Bauer was already in one and Klopp climbed aboard next to him and sat behind the controls. He motioned for the others to follow him and Elsie helped Alek up into the machine. To his surprise she didn't join him. Instead she started walking toward the other Gyrocopter, but Deryn stopped her in her path.

"Hang on a squick, why are there two chippers?" She had a very accusing look. Deryn must have realized that all of them could have fit into one of the Gyrocopters, but Elsie seemed to be avoiding her question. Instead she was walking over to where Count Volger and her father were still standing. The three of them were conversing very quietly and Alek saw the Count rush off toward the palace in a huff. Elsie and Uncle Derek didn't follow him, but walked back toward the other chopper. Alek realized what must have been happening and jumped out of the Gyrocopter in order to follow Volger. When he hit the ground he gave a large whine due to the pain in his hip, but continued running after the Count despite it.

"Alek, stop!" Deryn somehow was standing in front of him, her hands on her hips.

"I have to help Volger, he's gone mad and is trying to rescue the boffin."

"Which he is perfectly capable of doing by himself and without your injured bum." She made to steer him back toward the choppers but Alek broke free and continued after Volger. The man might be nuts, but he was Alek's man, and he had to stop him.

Deryn tripped on her skirts but managed to stumble after Alek and grabbed on to his shoulder. He thought she would stop him again but she let him lean on her and together they began to rush back toward the burning palace.

She grumbled. "I can't let you go by yourself you daft prince. If you're so barking certain that you need to get yourself good and killed then I might as well come with you."

Alek grinned at her and would have kept walking forward if Volger hadn't turned around in sudden retreat. He was waving his arms in the air and screaming at them to run away. Alek couldn't understand why until he saw the British soldiers charging after him.

Deryn grabbed his wrist and pulled him back toward the trees. When they reached the Gyrocopters, the engines were running and the blades spinning. Everyone was in the machines except Elsie who was waiting for them.

She wrapped her arms around Alek in a tight squeeze.

"I just wanted to say goodbye, in case I never see you again." She cried.

"Come again?" Alek said.

"I won't be going with you." She muttered.

Deryn pulled them apart. "Is that why there're two chippers?" She spat at Elsie.

"Choppers." Elsie corrected her. "My father and I are going back to Germany, while Klopp will fly you two to Switzerland."

"Germany? We were all supposed to fly back to Switzerland, what's with the change in heart?"

Alek looked between the two in shock. Apparently they had planned the get away ahead of time, he had realized that before, but he didn't expect that it would involve an escape to Switzerland, especially with Deryn agreeing to come along.

Deryn's face looked saddened. "Are you daft? Why would you want to go back there?"

Elsie shrugged. "Frankfurt is my home." She said.

Deryn shook her head. "I don't know Elsie that seems like a bad idea to me. With the way those bastards treated you back there; I wouldn't want to go home."

"So they're a bit mean, I think I can handle it. Can't be nearly as bad as what I've already been through. What more could they do?"

Deryn just looked at her sadly. Alek could tell she was trying to think of something else to convince Elsie not to go, but he had to interrupt.

"I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but we best be on the choppers soon or those soldiers are going to kill us." He saw them edging on the trees now and Volger was right in front of them. They started for the Gyrocopters but Alek's body couldn't take anymore running. The pain in his side tripled and he fell over sideways on the ground. Deryn stopped beside him and tried to pull him up, but the soldiers were already there.

Alek heard Elsie screaming in the background and the sound of bullets racketing off the metal of the choppers. Deryn was shouting at Uncle Derek to take off without them as she tried again to pull Alek to his feet.

Finally he was able to stand, but the soldiers were surrounding them.

At least ten of them were encircling them, and they all had rifles pointed at Deryn. She raised her hands above her head to surrender, and the men swarmed in to grab her. Two of them picked up Alek and began to carry him back toward the palace.

"You dummkopf Alek! You realize this is all your fault! If you hadn't gotten shot by that blasted bird…"

"I know!" He yelled back at her. He couldn't see her face, but could tell by her voice that she must have been smiling. Even he had to laugh a little at the irony of it all.

"At least Elsie get's to go home. She'll have a brilliant homecoming, I'm sure." Deryn said sarcastically.

Sure enough Alek saw the Gyrocopters hover into the sky. From a distance he thought he saw his cousin crying.


	17. Chapter 17

Once the British soldiers knew they had the prisoners secured they began to carry them back toward the road. Deryn noticed that a few of them still had their rifles aimed at her, but not at Alek, which was a bit surprising. Then she remembered that she had killed a man no more than fifteen minutes ago.

Her mind replayed visions of the gunshot, the blood and the body lying unconscious across the floor. It was terrifying to think that within a split second she had aimed the pistol, pulled the trigger and ended the life of another human being.

_The bastard deserved it!_ She reminded herself. But that didn't make her feel any better.

They reached the road and the men hefted both her and Alek into a horse drawn carriage. The door was shut and she looked across from her to see a guard with another rifle already seated. The man didn't speak to them, just looked at them silently and sternly.

There was a brief shout and the cart began to move slowly down the road. They sat in quiet for a few minutes, listening to the clip clop of the horses before she took the liberty to break the silence.

"How's your hip?" She asked Alek, remembering his new injury.

"Fine." He said, grinning at her. But the smile didn't fully reach his eyes and she could see him hiding a wince.

"You're an awful liar." She mumbled.

"You look lovely tonight, Miss Sharp." He was obviously changing the subject, but she took the compliment with a blush.

"Why thank you, you're highness." She inclined her head in a small bow and spoke with the most posh accent she could muster. "You look quite handsome yourself." Which was very true, Alek looked downright adorable in his prince outfit. She felt foolish saying so, so she punched him in the arm. From the corner of her eye she thought she saw the guard laugh.

"I especially appreciate the jewelry." Alek continued. "It's very sparkly. I would normally have thought it too much for someone of your status, but you pull it off nicely."

"Ach! The diamonds!" She grabbed for her ears and snapped off the earrings. "They're Elsie's! I was going to give them back, but during that whole barking mess I completely forgot!"

"I'm sure she won't mind." Alek replied.

"What! You really are a daft spoiled prince! They're barking DIAMONDS, Alek! Just one of these clart earrings could pay for an entire house!" It was a bit of an exaggeration, but she needed to emphasize her point.

"That's why I'm sure she wouldn't mind." Alek said. This time when he grinned it twinkled in his emerald eyes.

Realization dawned on her. Had Elsie given up the diamonds to pay Deryn? But pay her for what, helping her escape from Japan? But that was mainly Elsie's own doing and Deryn for some reason had a strong aversion to Elsie's flight back to Germany. Now she felt even guiltier due to the added bonus of the jewelry.

"Hang on a minute." Alek muttered. He reached for one of the necklaces and Deryn saw him fingering the cameo. She snatched it off her neck and handed to him so he could get a better look. "This was my mother's."

"Huh? But Elsie said it was her grandmother's." Deryn had remembered that detail clearly. The ivory carved portrait cameo was her favorite of the pieces.

Alek nodded. "It was. Elsie's grandmother was my father's aunt."

_Barking disgusting._ Images of Alek and Elsie having flipper children came to mind.

"This was a wedding gift that she gave to my mother." Alek continued. He was frowning down at the necklace and didn't seem to realize that he was still talking. "I never thought I'd see it again. Elsie dared me to take it from my mother's jewelry box years ago. I didn't think she'd keep it."

Deryn scrunched up her eyebrows. "Do you think she made me wear it on purpose?"

Alek only shrugged, but continued to hold the charm in his fingers.  
The rest of the trip was held in silence. Deryn watched the streets of Tokyo slowly drift past and wondered where they were headed. It was too frightening to think of what might happen next so she filled her mind with nothingness and focused on the lights and buildings of the city.

Familiar images flashed past and Deryn recognized a sea port and several docks. Ships were in the harbor, and above them she saw the _Leviathan _floating lazily in the sky. She couldn't help but smile when she saw the airship, even if she may never fly again.

The guard opened the doors of the buggy and ushered them out with the point of his gun. There was a ramp leading from the ground to the gondola on the _Leviathan_ and Deryn could make out a handful of figures waiting for them at the bottom of the ramp.

They were pushed toward the ramp and greeted solemnly by Captain Hobbes and several other officers. She stepped forward nervously, expecting them to berate her, but they shoved her toward a pair of mean looking riggers who yanked her up the ramp and on to the gondola. When she glanced behind her, she saw that the Captain was in deep conversation with Alek, who looked suddenly very frightened.

"Hang on a squick, what's going on here?" She shouted, but the riggers didn't answer her. "What are they doing with Alek?" Again, no answer.

Once inside the gondola the men slowed their pace a bit but still held firmly onto her forearms. She continued to yell questions at them without any reply back. This was incredibly annoying since she recognized them and was pretty sure she had worked a watch or two with one of them at least.

They lead her to her cabin and threw her inside before slamming the door and locking it from the outside. She instantly was at the doorknob, pulling and banging but it was no use. They had locked her in with a strong fabricated wooden bar that was as tough as steel but actually a living branch. It was already weaving itself between the door handle and the wall.

Annoyed and exhausted she paced over to her cot and stretched out on the mattress. Her eyes were wet with anger and fear.

Luckily she had gotten Alek out of the palace and he wouldn't be executed, but they weren't making the romantic escape to Switzerland like she had planned. Images of her flying across the country in a chopper, Alek's arms wrapped tight around her, were replaced with Captain Hobbes angrily booting her off the ship. Alek would be taken as prisoner by the British Empire and she would be sent back to Glasgow, where she would never see him again.

Hot tears of rage flooded down her face but she quickly wiped them away. Instead she stood up and examined her room. Someone had been through her things since she was gone. Her clothing had been ruffled through and lay strewn across the floor. Her trunk was opened and flipped around. She went to examine closer and was glad to see that nothing had been taken. The sketch book was still intact, although rifled through, and her small amount of money was still there. She felt a squint of pain when she looked beside the trunk and saw her da's Medal of Honor hastily tossed on the floor. She had kept it in under her pillow, and never expected that anyone would find it there. Gently, she retrieved the medal and returned it back to its proper place under her pillow. She was happy to find that her own medal she had won for saving Newkirk was still there. Together they glimmered in the glowworm light, one old and one new.

She sighed and began to remove the diamonds that Elsie had given to her. Alek was right, she was wearing an awful lot of them. Including the ones in her hair she counted 23 stones in all. It didn't make her any happier though.

Gradually she removed the dress and slipped into her old middie clothes. It felt wonderful to be back in pants again.

Outside her door she could hear the occasional whimper of a hydrogen sniffer, or the footsteps of a nearby crewman, otherwise it sounded as though the majority of the airship had gone to bed. She yawned and pulled down the covers before slowly climbing into bed.

Despite the horrific events of the night she really wanted to go to sleep. Her eyes fluttered closed and she wondered whether Alek would be allowed to sleep in his own cabin tonight as well. A memory of him complementing her in the carriage brought one last grin to Deryn's face before she finally fell asleep.


	18. Chapter 18

Life had returned back to the boring drawl that it was before the events at the palace, except this time things were even a bit more boring. Alek was once again quarantined to his room. The wound from the hummingbird had reopened during the attempted escape and had to be stitched back together. This time however, it wasn't Dr. Barlow who was tending to his wounds, but the ship's doctor, Dr. Russel.

Apparently no one was allowed to visit Alek. That not only included his own men, but Dr. Barlow and Deryn as well. Even Bovril had been taken away from him. His only company now was Dr. Russel or the occasional visit from Newkirk.

Currently, Newkirk was snoring from a rocking chair on the other side of Alek's cabin. The midshipman had been once again put on guard duty for Alek while the _Leviathan _made it's homeward voyage to London.

"Hey, Newkirk!" Alek whispered. The other boy started suddenly and almost fell out of the chair.

"AHH NO, MOMMY! I mean….yes your highness?" He positioned himself back in the chair and rubbed his eyes. Alek sighed.

"You fell asleep again."

"Oh yes, I'm sorry." He stood and walked over to Alek's side where he sat on the floor beside the cot. "How long was I out?"

Alek shrugged. "Maybe an hour? It's almost 0700 hours, the Doctor will be back soon and you don't want him to catch you sleeping again."

Newkirk's eyes widened in fright. "You're right. Man was he a terrifying sight last time."

Newkirk was supposed to be keeping watch on Alek and making sure his vital signs stayed stable. Although they both knew that the real reason was to make sure that Alek didn't try to escape again. He could walk perfectly well by himself, even if the Doctor insisted he stay in bed constantly.

"Right then, let me check your temperature." Grudgingly Alek let Newkirk stick the Darwinist thermometer in his mouth. "Ninety eight point six, normal again" He pulled out a notebook and scribbled the temperature down. "Now for your blood pressure." He made to reach for Alek's wrist when the door opened and the Doctor himself walked in.

"How are we this morning, Aleksander?" The man greeted him with a smile and removed his bowler hat. He reached for Newkirk's notebook and checked the scribbled data with a knowledgeable nod.

"He's fine." Newkirk said. "Normal temperature and blood pressure all night."

"I can see that," the Doctor replied, "However I am a bit confused as to why Alek would be writing down his own vitals when you were supposed to be keeping up with him during the night." Newkirk gave a confused expression as the Doctor pointed out the chart. "Unless you suddenly developed a new handwriting two minutes ago?"

Alek rolled his eyes and groaned. The rest of the chart had been filled out by the prince throughout the night as Newkirk slept. Only the last entry was in Newkirk's messy hand which was completely opposite of Alek's tidy script.

"You really should be sleeping yourself Alek. Don't let this fool slumber away the entire night. You're the one who needs the rest." Alek could see concern in the older man's eyes but the truth of the matter was that Alek couldn't sleep. He was too worried. The events of the night at the Emperor's Palace were nearly three weeks ago, but they were still fresh in his mind. He remembered the dance perfectly and replayed every moment of it over and over. He couldn't shake the idea of almost being shot or running/limping across the Japanese gardens to escape from an army of armed soldiers. He especially couldn't stop thinking about Deryn. The last time he had seen her was when they dragged her up the ramp of the _Leviathan _and out of sight. If he had known he wouldn't be allowed to talk to her again, he would have made a point to say goodbye.

Occasionally he would let his mind slip into words and ask Newkirk if he had heard from her. The midshipman would only shrug and shake his head. No one had told him anything about the cross-dressing Scottish girl, and if they had he wasn't allowed to tell Alek anyways. In fact, any questions that Alek posed at Newkirk about life outside his room were answered with stiff shrugs. Newkirk was forbidden to talk about Volger, Dr. Barlow or Klopp, even though Alek could tell he had seen these people. Every time Alek brought them up Newkirk looked guilty, like he wanted to tell Alek something. But whenever he brought up Deryn, Newkirk looked honestly baffled. The whereabouts of the girl were obviously being kept secret, which worried Alek even more.

"Aleksander?" The Doctor suddenly interrupted his thoughts, "Did you hear me?"

"Um, no. I apologize Doctor, what were you saying?"

"I said that we will be landing shortly. The _Leviathan _is due to dock in London within the next two hours. I beg of you to take better care of yourself, seeing as that I will no longer be watching over you." He looked very concerned now, almost like he wanted to cry. "I have a son not much older than you boy, and it grieves me to think of what will come next."

Alek gazed into the man's eyes. "I…I assure you sir, I will be fine." It didn't make sense that the Doctor was so suddenly afraid. Alek had healed splendidly from his wound and it no longer hurt at all. He knew that his blood pressure and temperature were normal; he had been recording them the entire night. "What is wrong sir?" He asked, wondering what had made the man so scared.

"I'm not supposed to be telling you this," the Doctor's eyes flicked to the open door, making sure no one was nearby. "but the Captain has given word that you will be escorted to Westminster Palace for a hearing. And I don't think that it bodes well."

"What…what does that mean?" Alek stammered.

"It means you are being judged by the House of Parliament for treason." The Doctor looked at him sadly.

Alek scrunched up his eyebrows and made eye contact with Newkirk, who also looked very frightened.

"The entire ship has been talking about it." Newkirk suddenly blurted. "The Lady Boffin is furious and has been trying to talk sense into Lord Churchill, but rumor says she hasn't had any luck." His eyes also darted towards the door and he quickly dropped his voice to a whisper. "Don't tell anyone I said so, but I think she's even tried threatening him with blackmail!" Alek wasn't too shocked to hear that. It didn't surprise him that Dr. Barlow would do anything to get her way. However, he knew that if she didn't win this time, things could end miserably.

"Do you think…they wouldn't execute me… would they?" Neither Newkirk nor the Doctor answered. Their silence was answer enough. Treason was a federal offense and usually terminated in a hanging. Alek gulped. "But I didn't do anything wrong!"

"You destroyed the _Goliath, _Alek." The Doctor answered. He didn't sound angry, just disappointed.

Alek wished they would leave him alone then, but the Doctor said he had been ordered to take him to the bridge where the Captain was waiting. They were flying over London right now, and he expected that they would be descending any minute.

He was helped back into the accursed wheelchair and pushed into the hallway for the first time in days. They passed other men on their way to the bridge and Alek couldn't help but notice the immense amount of pity in everyone's eyes. When he was finally face to face with the Captain, Alek thought he even saw Hobbes looking at him with empathy.

"It has been a privilege to have you aboard, sire." He said, then gave Alek a strong salute before turning and ordering the airmen to open the hatch.

Alek had never felt the airship descend, but outside the beast's door was an airfield covered in numerous soldiers and fabrications. They wheeled him outside and onto some sort of car that was pulled by what looked like a saber tooth tiger. A half a dozen soldiers whom Alek didn't recognize joined him on the car. A tall light haired man with a rifle on his back tied Alek's wheelchair down to the wall of the vehicle.

"I can stand!" Alek yelled at the man. A sudden wave of anger had washed over him. The rest of the soldiers were all standing since there were no chairs in the bus like car.

"Aye sir, I'm sure you can." The tall man grinned at him. Was he mocking him?

"I'm serious!"

"I know sir, but this is just to be safe." He stood next to Alek, his expression suddenly gloomy. Alek saw that the rest of the men were looking at him with gray, pained faces. Did they all know he was being driven to his execution? None of them looked older than eighteen and Alek could sense that they didn't want to be doing this.

They arrived at their destination in a few minutes. Alek hadn't looked out the window of the bus the entire trip, so when they wheeled him onto the street he glimpsed his first view of London. The large building they were leading him to must have been the Westminster Palace. It was adorned with a tall clock tower and imperial fences and guards. Out on the street hundreds of people were screaming and shouting angry remarks. When Alek was wheeled past the crowd the shouting got louder.

"What's going on?" Alek asked as he was pushed through the iron gate and away from the yelling people.

"Well, not many people are that thrilled with the killing of young innocents." Said the man with the rifle who was pushing his chair. When Alek looked at him confused he continued. "Word has spread around about your actions, you're highness, and the public isn't too happy with Lord Churchill's response."

Alek didn't know how to respond to that. The people of London were apparently supporting him. That wasn't something Alek had expected.

They made their way inside the large palace and through a wide elegant hallway. At the end was a set of tall wooden doors that were opened so Alek could be wheeled into a spacious wood trimmed room. Rows of seats were set up and as he entered Alek saw hundreds of people sitting in the rows turn to face him. Whatever conversations were being held before by this crowd immediately stopped. He was suddenly being pushed into a thick, staggering silence.

They reached the front of the room and Alek looked up to see a judge's podium directly in front of him. The man sitting at the podium wore a long white powdered wig with false curls. On both sides of the podium were shorter benches where about a dozen other wigged men were staring over their desks at Alek.

"You're late." Said the judge.

"I apologize, your honor." Said the man with the rifle. His voice was suddenly shaky. "But the _Leviathan _landed a few minutes later than we expected." The judge looked like he wanted to scold the other man more, but he only pointed to a table on Alek's left and said,

"Please escort the Prince to his seat." Without another word Alek was helped out of his wheelchair and sat down at a chair behind the wooden table. He was expecting the soldier to sit down beside him, but the young man only removed the wheelchair and joined a crowd of standing people who were further down the room. Suddenly very alone, Alek looked up at the judge and the group of men sitting in front of him.

"The House of Parliament welcomes his Royal Highness, Prince Aleksander Ferdinand Hapsburg von Hohenberg to the stand." Came a stiff voice from above. Alek looked up and saw a balcony above him filled with people. The judge cleared his throat.

"I call to the stand Lord Winston Churchill." He said. There was a murmur passing through the courtroom and Alek turned to see a stout bald man walk up beside him. He nodded at Alek and then walked toward the judge who had stood up from his podium and was now exiting the room. The bald man had a curly haired wig in his hand as well and placed it on his own head before ascending the podium and taking the first judge's place. He looked down at Alek with watery blue eyes.

"The House finds you guilty of treason, Prince Hapsburg, of which the penalty is death. How do you plea?" Alek only glared at the man, suddenly unable to speak. The room once again had returned to silence, waiting for him to answer.

"NOT GUILTY!" Came a piercing yell from the crowd of standing people. "HE PLEAS NOT GUILTY!" It was a woman's voice and Alek turned to see a dark haired woman in a bowler hat push her way toward the front of the crowd.

"Barlow." Churchill gritted his teeth in a snarl. "I don't believe I asked you to come forward."

"That's Dr. Nora Darwin Barlow!" She tried to push her way forward, but a few men had risen to stop her. "Alek is NOT guilty!"

"I'm quite certain that the boy can speak for himself, Doctor." She tried to fight against the other men some more, but to Alek's surprise Count Volger came forward and put a hand on her shoulder. She instantly stopped and with a large huff she turned away from him and returned to her spot among the crowd. Volger made eye contact with Alek. He looked as if he was going to say something but only nodded and followed the Boffin.

Alek felt a surge of relief come to him. There were people here he knew that were looking out for him.

"I plea not guilty, your honor." He said to Lord Churchill. Surprisingly Winston Churchill smiled.

"I had a feeling you would." He replied. "Very well then, I ask the court to bring forward the first witness. I call Miss Deryn Louise Sharp to come to the stand."

Alek felt his jaw drop.


	19. Chapter 19

The courtroom was in an uproar as they lead Deryn in. It may have scared anyone else but Deryn kept her head high and her chin proudly lifted in the air. Just let that overstuffed Lord Winston Churchill try and bug her. She doubted he could.

The guard leading her in wasn't at all gentle. He was gripping her arm so tightly she was sure it would bruise. Although she probably couldn't blame him for the roughness. He was sporting his own black eye and a good swollen cheek from where she had clocked him. Technically it hadn't been his fault that she was being taken to court, but that hadn't stopped her from hitting him.

He shoved her to the head of the room where Winston Churchill himself was glaring down at her from his perch. She recognized him from the penny papers with his pudgy face and big nose. Beside him were the other speakers of the House in shorter desks. They didn't look nearly as evil as Churchill and in fact had empathetic looks.

She was forced into a chair behind a wooden table and locked to it with a chain around the waist. When she turned to her right to examine her surroundings she was a bit surprised to see Alek sitting at a table beside her. His eyes were like ping pong balls they were so wide. He was obviously shocked to see her.

She must have looked a barking mess. They had practically forced her into a dress, which was more of a burlap sack and itched miserably. Her tights were thick nasty wool and her shoes dug into her toes but the corset was the worst. She pulled at it to try and get more comfortable while looking Alek over for the first time in three weeks. Her stomach was almost bubbling over with excitement the instant she had seen him. Blisters, was he a sight for sore eyes. He looked paler and thinner and his hair had grown out a bit so that it covered his eyebrows but either than that he looked healthy and alert. It was good to see that he was no longer in a wheelchair. She smiled at him cheerfully, despite the situation, and he mumbled something back that she couldn't hear.

"SILENCE!" Churchill bellowed. He smacked the gavel a few short times in order to get the attention of the room. The crowd eventually settled down and Churchill cleared his throat before speaking again.

"Mr. Smithson, would you bring over the bible." A very large man who was wearing one of the daft looking wigs came over to Deryn and asked her to place one hand on a bible he was holding and another on her heart. When she did he asked her,

"Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?" She weakly nodded which appeared to be answer enough because the man left her and repeated the same actions with Alek. When that was done Churchill started talking.

"Now before we continue I just want to say that my intentions are for the best." He said smoothly. "I do not _want_ to execute anyone. Especially not children! For the record, Prince Aleksander is a valuable asset to the British Empire and were he to die we would lose a possible alliance with Austria-Hungary.

But, situations being as they are, there is a strong possibility that Aleksander is a traitor. And if we find him guilty of treason here today then it is safe to say that I will try him as any other treasonous felon and have him hanged."

_WHAT? Alek might be hanged! _Now she understood why Alek looked so scared. Her own nerves bumped in her throat and she felt like she had to throw up.

"MURDERER!" Came a cry from the audience. Deryn could have sworn it was Jaspert's voice. "CHILD MURDERER!"

The crowd was quick to join in and soon the room was booming with thunderous cries. Sure enough, Jaspert was standing on top of a table toward the back. He had a rifle strapped to his back which he suddenly took off and began swinging in the air above him like a baton. Others began to follow suit and a few soldiers climbed onto the table beside him.

"JASPERT YOU DAFT NINNY, SHUT UP AND SIT YOUR ARSE DOWN!" He couldn't hear her though. She was strapped too tightly to the chair so she couldn't stand either. There was a sharp rapping sound and she realized that Churchill was hitting the gavel over and over. The crowd didn't settle down however. Alek looked like he was going to faint he was so startled.

Finally the heavy set man with the bible stood.

"QUIET!" He barked. She saw Jaspert sit down and wave to the others to join him. Eventually everyone began to settle and Winston Churchill began to speak again.

"Thank you, Mr. Smithson." He nodded to the heavy set man who sat down without another word.

"Your highness," he addressed Alek, "I would like to start by asking you a few questions. Firstly, it has been recorded that you assisted with the maintenance of the _Leviathan _engines_, _is that true?"

Alek nodded.

"Speak up boy."

"I…uh….that is…yes sir."

"So it had come to the Navy's attention that you had an education in mekanicks?"

"Um, I believe so."

"And they decided to have you look at the engineering of the _Goliath _as well?"

"Yes sir." Alek responded quietly. Churchill made a tittering sound.

"I wouldn't have suggested the idea myself but Barlow insisted. It seems that you Clankers were the best choice to overlook the construction of the engines. Apparently that also included sharing all the top secret information about the _Goliath."_

Alek only nodded.

"We trusted you Alek. Not only with the mekanicks of the warship but with the knowledge of its mission as well. Instead of keeping that trust and possibly insuring your future alliance between your country and ours, you chose to give that information up to the Germans."

This time Alek answered him curtly. "I never did anything for the Germans!"

"No?" Churchill lifted the side of his mouth in a partial grin. "You didn't try to stop the _Goliath's _mission to attack Tsingtao, a GERMAN settlement? Hmmm?"

Alek's face had turned a light shade of green. He looked as sick as Deryn felt but still kept the courage to continue talking.

"It may be a German settlement, your honor, but it is still a settlement. There are at least five thousand souls living in Tsingtao and you and the Japanese were planning on killing them all!" He was shaking now, making him look even more like he was going to faint. Deryn wished she was sitting next to him so she could at least hold his hand or something.

"You forget, your majesty, that this is war!" Churchill's face had become even redder. "Our lives are governed by how we can defeat the enemy. Didn't your father teach you anything?" Alek didn't respond to that remark but he stopped shaking and some of his fear seemed to be replaced by anger.

"Miss Sharp," Churchill turned his large head to face her, "I have a few questions involving your circumstances as well."

_God dammit please don't include me in this, you chubby round loon! _She thought.

"Is it true that you disguised yourself as a boy in order to join the air force?"

She looked down at her lap, not wanting to make eye contact with him. "Yes."

"And is it true that you assisted Aleksander on his quest to kill the _Demon, _the crucial living bomb of the _Goliath_?"

"No." She muttered. She couldn't lie here even though she wished she could. She wanted to take some blame for the death of the _Demon_. That way Alek may get out of some of the blame.

"But you did rescue him that night?"

She looked up at Churchill who was squinting down at her. "Aye, I pulled him out of the water. He was barking daft to go and cut that thing down, but I wasn't gonna let him drown!"

"Fine then." He looked a little let down. "So you didn't assist in the actual event. However you were key to Aleksander's survival and helped him later on when he tried to escape form Japan."

_Well, that's true enough. _"Yes."

"How did you plan on getting him away from the Emperor exactly?"

She sighed then retold the story briefly. "We planned to take Alek and his men out of the palace before the Emperor noticed and get them onto some Gyrochopper contraptions. Once we were free from the city we planned on flying to neutral territory, like Switzerland."

Churchill broke into a broad grin when she finished talking.

"So you completely ignored your duty to take the prince back to the _Leviathan _and back to your commanding officers."

_Dammit! _"Yes. But you see, I had to. It wasn't like the choppers were mine and I could choose where to take him. And there's no way the Captain would've listened to me if I brought him back."

"Listened to you about what? Perhaps you were worried that he wouldn't believe you? I mean, why would he believe you? How would a midshipman on the _Leviathan _know that the Japanese Emperor had plotted to kill the heir of Autria Este?"

He was right, she knew. Looking at it from that standpoint she looked very suspicious.

"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, Ms. Sharp. It is obvious that someone must have assisted you with the escape. I can't imagine that you flew two Gyrocopters by yourself. However, my main point of interest falls back on how you managed to get the Prince out of the palace without being caught."

"We were caught." She mumbled under her breath. "Otherwise I wouldn't be stuck here talking to you, pudge face." He pretended he didn't hear her but Deryn saw his cheeks turn a deeper shade of red making him look like a giant strawberry.

"What you failed to mention, Ms. Sharp, was how you shot a man in order to get away."

Deryn felt the blood rush out of her face and heard the crowd murmur behind her. That was not what she expected him to say. She turned to look at Alek whose mouth was wide open so he resembled a fish. There was a long silence and she realized the Churchill was waiting for her to reply.

"Aye, I may have done that."

"The Court finds you guilty in the case of first degree murder. You are sentenced to death by hanging for the shooting of General Timothy Barrens."

The courtroom burst into shouts but was instantly silenced this time when Deryn yelled over the crowd.

"WAIT WHAT? Hang on a squick, are you serious? Hanging?"

"I'm sorry Ms. Sharp, but the law states clearly that murder is to be punished with a death sentence. And in the case of a first degree murder, the death is by the noose." He didn't look sorry though. He was looking down at her with a smug expression. "We have an eyewitness who claims he saw you shoot the General." Churchill pointed to his left and Deryn recognized the wiry man beside him as Jenson, the other man who had been in the room when she had fired the pistol. He was wearing one of the nasty little wigs just like the rest of them and sneered down at her like she was a foul insect.

"But that's not…..that's not fair!" She bantered back. "They were trying…what they did…..they tried to rape me!" She would have cried then if she could but she was too angry.

"Well I hate to say it young lady but you had it coming to you. What with you dressing up like a man, it's no wonder they took you for the slut you are." The moment the words were out of his mouth the crowd burst into the loudest uproar she had heard so far. Beside her Alek had stood up and was yelling loud curses in German. She though she saw Jaspert throw something and out of the corner of her eye she saw Dr. Barlow and Volger screaming at the top of their lungs.

Winston Churchill didn't try to stop them immediately. He let the crowd run itself horse before finally knocking on his desk with the gavel. This time Jenson raised his arms above his head and the crowd hushed up to hear what he had to say.

"You didn't shoot him because of _that_! You shot him in cold blood. He was dueling with your Princey fellow and you shot him point blank. Didn't even give him a chance to defend himself. We may have been a bit rough with you, but we never did you any harm. So you sure as hell didn't need to shoot a British General in order to protect a bastard Clanker prince!" He was fuming. Deryn could feel the audience murmuring behind her. Everyone had easily been swayed to Jenson's new view on the events. Everyone except Jaspert that is.

"You fucking liar!" She heard him bellow over the heads of the other crowd members. "You wouldn't be saying that if…." He never got to finish his sentence because a soldier beside him had yanked him back down and was now barking at him to keep his mouth shut.

"No, he's not lying." She mumbled. Because it was true, she had shot the man in cold blood. She felt horrible for it and couldn't deny it anymore.

"So you plea guilty? Very well then." To her surprise Churchill lifted himself down from the podium and returned to the floor in front of her and removed the wig. "I consider myself a fair and descent man, Ms. Sharp, and I have to sentence you to death. I really do apologize that things turned out this way." He made to reach for her shoulder as if to pat her reassuringly but something swatted away his hand. Alek had risen from his seat and was now standing between her and Winston Churchill. His own arm quivering at his side from the recent smack he had delivered to Mr. Churchill's hand.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Alek bellowed. His face was stern and frightening. The crowd was dead silent, shocked that the humble Prince had changed so abruptly.

"Excuse me?" Churchill looked a bit scared himself. He even backed up a squick to get away from Alek. Alek stood as tall as he could, which was no more than five foot four inches. Deryn remembered because he was about three inches shorter than her. But in her eyes Alek could have been a seven footer. Churchill almost shrank below him.

"You can't touch her! And you can't execute her!"

Churchill took a moment to register what Alek had said then pushed out his chest, raised his chin and laughed.

"Who are you to say what I can and can't do?" Even though he had regained some of his composure he was still looking at Alek nervously.  
"I am Aleksander Ferdinand Hapsburg, future Archduke of Austria-Hungary, and you sir cannot kill this woman."

"Why not?" Churchill asked. "If she is somehow innocent, your highness, please tell us." The crowd gave a quiet murmur and Churchill chuckled.

Alek made eye contact with Deryn and she could see a huge amount of fear in his eyes that she hadn't noticed earlier. He bit his lip and seemed to be deep in thought on what to say. His eyes darted toward where Count Volger was sitting and then up to Jenson on the podium. Deryn was about to say something herself but Alek's face suddenly lit up like he had a breakthrough idea.

"You can't kill her sir, she's pregnant."

Deryn had to literally swallow down bile that had risen into her mouth.

_So much for telling the truth. _She thought. The crowd was in uproar again and Churchill's face had turned a shade of purple. From the corner of her eye she thought she saw Volger faint.

"It's illegal for you to execute a pregnant woman." Alek stated as if he were reading it from a book in one of his princely tutoring lessons.

"He's right, sir." Said the man Deryn recognized as Mr. Smithson. "Under His Majesty's Royal Decree: it is forbidden for a woman with child to be killed. Executing her would kill an unborn, innocent soul." There was a brief pause in which Deryn saw Churchill glare Mr. Smithson down evilly, but the other man only stared back blankly and blinked.

Winston Churchill smoothed out the front of his jacket and cleared his throat. When he spoke again he wouldn't meet Alek in the eye.

"I'm afraid that I don't believe it, your highness. With you blurting out random information about this girl's physical state the moment after she has been sentenced to death, one has to be a bit suspicious."

"Well, it's true. Right Deryn?" Alek nudged her in the back with an elbow and she had to struggle not to throw up all over Lord Churchill.

"Yes. Very true. I am very…um…very pregnant."

Her answer seemed to spark some hope in Churchill because the man instantly broke into a large smile.

"And if this were true I am assuming that you would be the father, Prince Aleksander?" He gestured to Alek with an outstretched hand and a mocking bow. Alek blushed profusely.

"Yes." Alek muttered. He must have suddenly realized what that would have entailed seeing as how embarrassed he now looked.

"May I ask, Ms. Sharp, how far along are you? You aren't showing yet for what I can tell."

If she got the chance to later she would certainly smack Alek good and hard upside the head for this.

"Almost a month now." She blurted out. Hopefully that added up right. She and Alek had been in quarantine for three weeks since they left Japan, so she couldn't have been pregnant any time after that. She had only met Alek two months ago. That wouldmean at least a month to get to know him before…

_Barking spiders! This is way too embarrassing to think about._

"I'm afraid there is no way for you to prove that, Ms. Sharp, so we will have to continue forward with the execution as planned."

"But there is also no way to prove that she isn't!" Alek said smugly. He crossed his arms and grinned at Churchill. Deryn realized that Alek finally had the upper hand.

Churchill didn't respond. Instead he gave Alek one last angry look before turning back to the other dozen men with wigs. They circled around him intently and began whispering angry remarks back and forth to one another. Deryn watched them argue for moment before she let herself relax a little and turn to Alek.

He had let his tough smug look fall for a moment and she saw him again as the sixteen year old boy she met on the glacier two months ago.

"I'm so sorry Alek."

He looked at her with genuine shock. "What for?"

"They're going to kill you too, you ninny!"

He gave her a full bright smile, the first one she had seen from him in weeks.

"I don't think they will Deryn, you are forgetting one more thing." He pointed behind her and she turned to see Dr. Barlow walking up the aisle with tazza at her heals and Bovril on her shoulder. "We have Doctor Nora Darwin Barlow on our side." Alek grinned.

Barlow shoved her way into the huddle of dusty wigged men and began giving them a piece of her mind. The whispers became angrier and were accompanied by a lot of rude hand gestures before Churchill finally called a stop to it, climbed back up to his judge's podium and returned his attention to the courtroom.

"It has come to my attention that having a young Prince as a cooperative captive is too valuable a commodity to part with over a small skirmish about loyalty. From this point forward, Aleksander von Hohenguard is free from his treason felonies and is allowed to live on the condition that he remains in London and under strict guard until he is found useful toward the British Empire.

As for the young lady, I have been told that there are ways to test for pregnancy." He nodded to Dr. Barlow angrily as he continued. "I will have one of the Doctors under the service of the Crown examine Ms. Sharp in the morning. And I can assure you, Barlow, that the Doctor will not be you or any of your cohorts.

If Ms. Sharp is indeed pregnant, as she claims, she will be spared of her execution and sentenced to life in prison. However, if she is not then her execution sentence will be carried out as fore planned." He gave one last haunting whack with his gavel before the courtroom blossomed into chaos once again.

Deryn wasn't even able to hear herself curse over the racket of the room.


	20. Chapter 20

**IMPORTANT NOTE:**

**This is my smut chapter. Needless to say, things get a bit...dare I say...adult in this upcoming part. I tried to keep things pg-13, so if you are under 13 or you don't like to read this kind of stuff you can skip this chapter as not much plot development happens. Not to say that I didn't read this kind of thing when I was a curious 13 year old. But, you have been warned!**

**Also, this is probably my third to last chapter in this story. I really appreciate all the wonderful feedback and I'm glad that people are reading and enjoying the random babblings of my mind! **

* * *

As soon as Churchill had said his last word, Alek turned to speak with Deryn and grabbed her shoulder. When she looked up at him there was no fear in her eyes, only a deep sadness. He wanted to comfort her then but someone yanked her away from him and out of the courtroom before he even had a chance to say goodbye.

They let him sit in silence for a few minutes as the people slowly exited the courtroom. Various people would call out to him from the crowd.

"Don't give up son!" Said a middle aged soldier. He gave Alek a warm smile before someone shoved him out of the way.

"Retched Clanker!" Shouted an elderly woman behind him, "That poor girl doesn't deserve the likes of you!"

"Shut it granny! He just tried to save her life!"

"I highly doubt that. Seems like he just used her like any man would. Poor thing won't ever see the light of day again thanks to him!"

Alek tried to ignore the jeers and was grateful when someone returned with the wheelchair. He didn't even notice that it was Newkirk until he was pushing him outside and away from the noisy swarm of Londoners.

Newkirk didn't speak and Alek didn't feel like talking anyway so they both remained quiet. The midshipman led the wheelchair back toward the bus and several other soldiers helped tie the chair down before the vehicle began to move.

He didn't pay attention to his surroundings or spoke to anyone throughout the ride. The strange saber tooth tiger pulled the carriage down a road beside a large river. Alek found that he didn't care where they took him next. He was too busy thinking about what had just happened.

Where had he gotten the courage to say such a ridiculous statement? Did he really expect them to believe that Deryn was pregnant? He was a horrible liar, and Winston Churchill obviously knew he was lying. But what else could he have done?

His mind drifted back to what the old woman had yelled at him before he left. She was right; Deryn would never see the light of day again because of him. They would find out soon enough that she wasn't pregnant and then execute her. He imagined her hanging from the gallows, her slim form swaying in the breeze. It made him nauseous and he dropped his head into his hands with a soft whimper.

The bus pulled to a stop and he was roughly wheeled outside and down a rickety path toward a medieval looking building. Inside they passed through dark eerie hallways lit with kerosene lamps. Voices would echo from the dark but Alek saw no other people in the building. They turned into a narrow corridor and Alek wrapped his arms around himself, suddenly very cold.

Instead of the elegant marble and wood trim of the courtroom, the hallway was lined with stone bricks and a worn cobblestone floor. Eventually they began to pass doorways. These were solid wood and immensely old. Alek noticed that they didn't have door handles and a few were secured with iron chains.

"This is a dungeon, isn't it?" He asked Newkirk. The middie didn't answer for a few moments and Alek thought he wasn't going to say anything until he finally responded.

"Aye sir, this would be the Tower of London." He sounded scared himself if not awestruck.

They passed several more doors before stopping in front of short one off to the side and in a corner. The doorframe was barely four feet tall and there was a small window toward the top lined with bars.

Newkirk removed a ring of keys from his pocket and moved to unlock the door. When he turned back to Alek his face was grave and serious.

"You have an hour." He said, then grabbed Alek by the forearm and shoved him inside before slamming and locking the door behind him.

"Wait!" Alek shouted back. He pushed his face to the barred window and saw Newkirk run off with the wheelchair, alone, back down the narrow hallway. "An hour for what?" He yelled again, but Newkirk was long gone.

"Alek?" Said a soft voice from behind him. He jumped and banged his head on the low ceiling. The voice was Deryn's.

_An hour to say goodbye._ Alek thought miserably. He couldn't see in the little cell he was locked in, but he was sure that Deryn was in there with him. Crouching so he didn't hit his head again, Alek fumbled around in the darkness until he found her lying down in a bed of straw toward the back of the cell.

"Deryn! Are you alright? I didn't think…." She didn't let him finish and instead pulled him down into her arms and kissed him.

Alek had not been expecting that. In fact he was more expecting her to punch him after what he had just said in the courtroom about her. He sat there motionless, not knowing what to do as she pressed her lips against his. She held him there for a moment then seemed to notice he was shivering and let go.

"Alek, relax, if you don't want to, I'll stop." She sounded sad and hurt.

"NO! I mean…. God's wounds Deryn I hadn't thought you felt that way. I'm just a bit shocked is all."

So she had feelings for him. He didn't really know what to think of that. A part of him was ecstatic, although he couldn't understand why. Did he have feelings for her as well? He obviously couldn't stop thinking about her these past few weeks and he couldn't deny the strange desire he had to kiss her back.

He felt her hands inch up his spine and stop at the base of his neck. With the smallest tug she was desperately trying to pull him back toward her again. Alek could feel the need in her touch and without thinking about it anymore swooped down and kissed her.

It was passionate and long and he shuddered when she let out an aching moan.

_So this is what kissing is like, _he thought. It was even more enjoyable then he had imagined. His heart was beating in his throat and he was terrified he'd somehow mess up and make a fool of himself but Deryn didn't notice. She seemed to be enjoying it as much as he was which just made Alek more excited.

When she put her tongue in his mouth he almost pulled away he was so startled. He had never heard of anyone doing _that _before. Although shocking and a bit vulgar he had to admit that it was quite nice. Gradually he even slipped his own tongue into her mouth which she awarded him with another soft moan. But when she began to unbutton his pants he had to stop her.

"Deryn…I… I can't." He gasped and pushed her hands away. His eyes had become adjusted to the dim light that shown through the door window so he could see the disappointment on her face.

"Alek," She whispered. Gently she brushed the bangs off his brow and kissed him there. "Please Alek, this is my last chance."

Dread and shame filled his heart. Of course she wanted to continue, they were going to kill her once they found out she wasn't pregnant. Unless….

"You want me to impregnate you, is that it?" Suddenly disgusted he unwrapped her legs which were twisted around his waist and tried to shove away from her.

"Don't be ridiculous, you ninny. A pregnancy test won't work after one night! And besides, I would never do it for _that _reason!" He saw the pain in her eyes and realized the mistake he had just made. They really only had this short amount of time before Newkirk came back a dragged Alek away from her forever. Why was he wasting it with these petty arguments?

"I'm sorry." He mumbled. "I'm just, I'm scared Deryn. I've never done any of this before and…and I don't want them to kill you."

She looked at him with the saddest and prettiest eyes he had ever seen. She really was pretty, why had he never noticed it before? The soft skin, golden hair and those steel blue eyes, it was enough to drive him crazy.

He wrapped his arms around her and she complied with delicate kisses down his cheek and neck. Before long she pulled him on top of her in the pile of straw. Between the kisses she had undone his belt and pants and began touching him in places that made Alek gasp and flush. Meanwhile she was whispering in his ear, begging him to do things to her that caused him to gulp and shudder.

_I'm a Prince! _he thought to himself,_ Not some lovesick farm boy after a drunken village dance!_ But there was no use in trying to stop himself now. He sighed and gently lifted up the skirts of her dress.


	21. Chapter 21

Deryn wondered if anyone could be so sad and so happy at the same time as she was just then. Finally, Alek was in her arms. He had let her unbutton his shirt, although reluctantly, so she could feel the soft skin beneath it. She let her fingers trace the outlines of his abdominal muscles one more time, enjoying how he quivered beneath her touch.

Alek wasn't someone you would call affectionate. Currently he was lying motionless beside her, unable to even breathe let alone touch her back. He had been eager enough a few seconds ago, but now that it was over he just lay there like a barking vegetable. Deryn blamed it on his princely upbringing. No doubt about it, the wide eyed glare he was giving her now was filled with shame and fear. The poor boy looked absolutely terrified, like he may have just mortally wounded her. She was a bit nervous herself, of course, but not nearly as bad as him.

"Alek, what's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing. I just….I'm sorry." He whispered.

"You're _sorry_? What in the blazes are you sorry about?"

From the look he gave her she could tell he didn't want to talk about it. However, he somehow managed to spit out a few more words.

"I'm sorry for fracturing your…..uh….your…chastity."

Deryn broke into a fit of laughter. She couldn't help it. The way he said it was so aristocratic and stuck up. Alek obviously didn't think the situation was at all funny because he continued to stare at her in horror.

"Oh calm down, Alek! It was my idea, remember. And I'm sure that my _chastity_ doesn't matter so much when they're going to hang me in the morning." She said sarcastically.

That didn't cheer him up at all. Her usual tact on trying to make light of a nasty situation was obviously not working. With a sigh she pulled her hands away from his tender skin and turned around so they were no longer facing one another.

Surprisingly, instead of remaining like a vegetable, Alek pushed himself against her back and wrapped his arms around her waist. She felt his lips brush the back of her neck in a few gentle kisses.

She wished she could lie like that forever, but fate would have it that the door would open at that moment.

"All right lovebirds get yourselves decent before I puke!" Said a loud voice from the door. Alek immediately pulled away from her and began fumbling around for his belt. Deryn squinted in the sudden light from the hallway and then squealed when she made out her brother's scrawny form in the doorway.

"OYE, JASPERT!" She bounded up from the floor and pounced at her brother. Without too much effort she lifted him off his feet and swung him around in the dungeon hallway.

"Aye, it's good to see you too lassie!" He said and planted a large kiss on the top of her head. "But try to keep your voice down a wee bit. Not all the guards are as nice as your mate Newkirk here." Jaspert gestured to his side where a bewildered Newkirk was standing. Alek, who had finally found his belt amongst the straw, was now crouching in the little cell looking very confused and hurt.

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe I know you." He said to Jaspert, not too kindly.

"Sure you do princey boy." Jaspert gave Alek a wide grin and tipped his hat. "The name's Jaspert. I'm the one who carted you in to this mess, remember?" Alek looked Jaspert over again before realization dawned on him.

"Ah yes, the soldier with the rifle. You're the one who brought me to the courtroom." Alek pulled himself out of the cell and stood to his full height in front of Jaspert, which made him look ridiculous since Jaspert was nearly a head taller. "And how do you know Miss Sharp?"

Jaspert let out gasping laugh. "If I didn't know better I'd think your princey friend was getting a squick jealous of me, ay Deryn? Or, excuse me, Miss Sharp?"

Deryn would have laughed herself if Alek didn't look so miserable. Instead she gave Jaspert a good slap to the back of the head and removed herself to go stand next to Alek.

"Jaspert's my brother, Alek." She huffed.

Alek's mouth dropped open and he face planted his head in his hands with embarrassment.

"Well, now that that's settled," Jaspert continued, "I'm going to have to rush you out of here. Lucky for you, most of the jailors here are mates of mine and all think that Churchill's a clart sack full of hogwash. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be careful. We're going to take the back way out of here and best be as quiet as possible." He began to turn and run but stopped to face Alek again.

"I would highly suggest you button up your shirt sir. I may not have clocked you yet for snogging my sister, but don't think I won't!"

Deryn grinned as she saw Alek turn bright red and stumble to button his shirt and run at the same time. Luckily Jaspert didn't know that they had done much more than just snogging.

Thanks to Jaspert no one bothered them on their way out of the Tower of London. They passed a few guards who would either look away or flash a knowing grin. Jaspert and Newkirk led them down a winding staircase and a narrow tunnel before opening a trap door which led them directly onto the street. A few minutes later Jaspert ushered them into a parked car and clicked at the hippogriff which was strapped to it. Soon the beastie was yanking them through the streets of London.

"Where are we going?" Alek asked, his eyes glued to the winged horse creature.

Jaspert gave a mischievous grin. "King's Cross Station." He declared, then pulled out three train tickets from his front jacket pocket. "And then a straight shot ride to Glasgow."

Deryn gasped. "Where on Earth did you get the money for those?"

Jaspert's grin widened even more.

"You wouldn't believe it but I happened to have charmed these tickets for free."

He was right, she didn't believe it.

"While I was waiting for his princeliness to disembark from the _Leviathan_, a beautiful young woman approached me and asked me for a favor."

Deryn rolled her eyes. According to Jaspert, beautiful young women were always fawning over him and needing special favors.

"Aye Jaspert, and what did she want?"

"For me to deliver a parcel for her." With his head still pointed to the road and watching the hippogriff, Jaspert ducked under his seat and pulled out small wooden crate with holes in it. It was bouncing around by itself madly but Jaspert took no time to drop it into Alek's lap. The prince looked like he might birth a hippogriff when he saw the box tilt violently. "Believe it or not she said that the beastie inside needs to get to Glasgow."

"Excuse me….but did you say….Beastie?" Alek grumbled.

"Aye. She called it a Loris."

"Perspicacious." Said the box. Alek didn't hesitate and opened the crate. Bovril jumped out and wrapped its arms tightly around Alek's face, obviously delighted to see him. "Aleksander Ferdinand." Bovril declared in a happy tone.

"Barking Spiders!" Jaspert shouted, "Did that thing just talk?"

"Aye, tis a common skill among Loris's." Deryn grinned. She scooped Bovril off of Alek's face and plopped the creature into her lap. "Who was this woman again?" She urged Jaspert to continue.

Jaspert pulled his gaze away from Bovril and went back to his story.

"A beautiful lady with dark eyes and raven black hair. She's a boffin to boot, and insanely smart. Once I told her my name she knew I was from Glasgow. Said she'd pay my way plus two more tickets if I took her fabrication with me." He held up the tickets dreamily. "I think I'm in love."

Deryn heard Alek snort back a fit of laughter.

"Remember the last girl you fell in love with?" She interrupted. "Wasn't she the Captain's wife?"

Jaspert looked grave. "Aye, she might have been."

"And not just six months ago you were madly in love with that waitress who brought you some extra tea.

"I…I don't know what you mean."

"Or how about Mrs. Clarkson's daughter, whom you followed home and terrorized after she delivered a batch of eggs."

"Quiet Deryn!"

"Oh, and don't forget little Abby McDonald who you swore you were going to marry after Pa rescued her out of the lake."

"That was nearly three years ago!" Jaspert shouted. Alek was doubled over in giggles and Deryn patted him on the back to help him regain his breath.

"What are you laughing about, princey boy! You just wait; I still have to give you a good beating!"

Deryn shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"_Mr. _Sharp!" Said Bovril.

"SEE!" Said Jaspert in awe, "She even got the beastie to learn my name! It must really be true love!"

Deryn and Alek both choked back more giggles and watched Jaspert looking at Bovril in amazement. Somehow the Loris always knew when to say just the right thing.


	22. Chapter 22

The Sharp household was built on a farm on the outskirts of Glasgow. It was a quaint little cottage nestled into the side of a hill overlooking the countryside. In the late afternoon sunlight you could make out hills and valleys covered in the purple growth of heather. The kitchen windows were open and a faint breeze with the smell of spring rain drifted through the room, tempting anyone indoors to run out into the Scottish meadows.

But Alek couldn't go outside. He was stuck peeling potatoes. He was nearly on his seventeenth spud when Mrs. Sharp entered the room with another sack for him to peel.

"Just got word that Collin and Maggie are coming up for supper as well. They have three little ones, so best put another pile of potatoes on the stove."

Alek sighed and paused from the current potato he was peeling to rest his aching hand for a moment.

"How many people all together?" He asked Mrs. Sharp.

"Including you? Fourteen." She said cheerfully. "And I may invite the McClouds over as well. Their youngest just had twins and I haven't gotten a chance to see the babes yet." She started to hum a minor tune and turned away from Alek to begin chopping the potatoes he had already peeled.

Mrs. Sharp wasn't a small woman, but you wouldn't dare call her overweight. She was unsightly tall, much taller than Deryn, and had the build of a farmer's wife. Large shoulders and thighs made up most of her figure. Her hair was long silvery blond and tied back in a tight French braid that emphasized the angles of her cheeks. She really didn't look like Deryn at all besides the height and the hair color. No one really looked like Mrs. Sharp, even her sons were tiny compared to her.

Of her sons Jaspert was the youngest. The two elder boys were Collin and Gregory; both married with children of their own. Gregory's family was already home visiting and Alek would occasionally glimpse a small child running by possibly chasing a cat or dog. On top of that, Deryn's father's sisters were coming over as well. In Alek's mind it was far too many people in way too small of a house.

Deryn was long gone from the establishment. Her aunts on her father's side had insisted on taking her shopping that morning. The girl wasn't given a choice and was reluctantly pushed out the door by her mother with a command to buy a proper dress and act a like a proper lady. Now with supper approaching Alek wondered if she would be home soon.

"Greetings your highness!" Jaspert bellowed as he marched into the kitchen. He ruffled Alek's hair before sitting down at the table next to him. Alek gave the boy a happy grin back. Surprisingly Jaspert was much friendlier than Alek would have originally guessed. He never did beat him up like he threatened to and instead accepted Alek like another brother.

"You could help with some of those potatoes yourself." Mrs. Sharp said to her son.

"That's no necessary; I think Alek is doing just fine by himself." He answered. Alek rolled his eyes. Mrs. Sharp had given everyone jobs to get ready for dinner, but Alek had been forced with the worst, potato duty. It was all due to his lousy injury. It was dreadfully unfair since his wound was almost completely healed and he could walk just fine. But Mrs. Sharp wouldn't let him out of her sight since they had arrived yesterday. Currently she had cornered him in the kitchen between the stove and the potatoes.

"Even royalty needs to help cook in this house!" She had declared when showing him how to peel the potatoes. It wasn't so bad now that he thought about it. From his seat in the kitchen he got to meet everyone that came into the house and hear more about the huge Sharp family.

"I brought down those photos you were asking about, Ma." Jaspert said. Alek noticed that he was holding a few framed photographs. Jaspert spread them out on the table so Alek could see them. "Ma wanted me to show you some decent pictures of the family before everyone got here. Therefore you won't have too much trouble trying to keep everyone straight. She might say that this is a welcome home dinner for Deryn, but it's really a chance for everyone to come and meet you, princey boy."

Alek saw Mrs. Sharp shaking her head.

"This supper is for Deryn, Jaspert. It's been nearly three months since she's been home and everyone's dying to see her."

"Oh stuff it Ma! You know they're only coming because they want to see her new boyfriend!" He bumped Alek with his shoulder. "Honestly, Mum is the happiest I've seen in weeks since you showed up. We were all certain that Deryn was a lost cause until she brought you home. Used to say she would die an old maid."

SMACK!

"Don't go saying such rude things about your sister!" Mrs. Sharp screeched. Jaspert was rubbing the back of his head where she had just hit him with wooden spoon.

"OUCH! Christ Ma, you didn't need to hit me!"

"Are you going to show him the pictures or not?"

Jaspert sighed and nodded while pointing to the photographs for Alek to see.

The largest picture was a group shot of the entire Sharp clan. Everyone was dressed in their Sunday best and circled around Mrs. Sharp who sat in a large armchair in the middle of the crowd. It must have been fairly recent because both Deryn and Jaspert looked to be about the same ages as they were now and their father was not in the shot. Alek squinted to get a better look at Deryn with longer hair. He grinned when he saw how grumpy she looked, obviously forced into a frilly dress for the photograph.

Jaspert took the time to point out everyone and name them but Alek wasn't paying attention. His eyes were caught on the second picture frame which looked like an old wedding portrait. The bride was Mrs. Sharp, dressed in a gigantic wedding gown and holding a large bouquet of heather. Beside her was a short skinny man that must have been Deryn's father. He had the same twinkling eyes and smile as his daughter topped with a messy fluff of very light colored hair. Alek even thought it might be white hair if the man wasn't so young. The couple was quite an amusing pair, her being so large and him so small. But even from the photograph Alek could tell they were in love.

"And that's my Da." Jaspert said when he saw Alek looking at the photo. "Owen Oliver Sharp. You know he was a decorated soldier? Won a medal of honor after he died. It's really quite a touching story, but I think Deryn should tell it to you, she was there." Alek heard a hint of sadness in Jaspert's voice.

"Yes, I know. She told me before. I'm really sorry, Jaspert." He said. Jaspert only shrugged and showed him the last picture.

"And this is us as wee babes!" He laughed. The photo showed a smiling yet frazzled Mrs. Sharp holding a toddler Jaspert and an infant Deryn. Behind her were the two elder sons who must have been no more then seven.

"They're lovely photographs." Alek said. "My parents never let me take my picture. It's nice to see what they might have looked like." Alek felt something on his shoulder and looked to see Bovril leaning over to point at the photograph.

"Family." Said Bovril. He then pointed to Jaspert and said. "_Miss_ Sharp!" Alek laughed.

"_Mr. _Sharp!" Jaspert corrected him, pointing to himself with both hands. "I'm MISTER Sharp!"

"_Miss_ Sharp!" Bovril answered happily while Alek snorted.

"I'm afraid that you have really rattled the attic of that poor creature." Mrs. Sharp said from the stove. Alek had to agree. Deryn had been trying to fix it so that Bovril called her Miss Sharp and Jaspert was now Mr. Sharp. Of course Bovril didn't think that was such a good idea and decided that Jaspert sounded better as a 'Miss'.

Jaspert would have continued to argue with the Loris if he wasn't interrupted by Deryn and her aunties entering the room.

"Ah, at last!" Mrs. Sharp put down her potatoes and walked over to kiss her daughter on the cheek. Deryn let her kiss her once before shrugging her off and wiping off the kiss. "Now darling, I wish you would act as much of a lady as you look."

"But she does look splendid, doesn't she!" Said one of the aunts. One of them was Clara and one was Denise but they were almost identical so Alek couldn't tell which was which. He bent in his chair so he could peer around one of the aunties and get a better look at Deryn.

Alek gulped down a gasp. Deryn didn't look splendid, she looked beautiful. She was wearing a simple white gown made mostly of elegant lace. It had short sleeves and a wide neck hole so she wasn't overwhelmed by too much fabric. They had let her keep her short hair and instead of a wig she wore a light blue ribbon that pulled back her bangs and ended in a small bow next to one of her ears.

"Well done sis, you finally are a girl again!" Jaspert said. Deryn and her aunts scowled at him while Mrs. Sharp snapped him on the back of the head with a wooden spoon again.

"Off with you now! If you aren't going to help with the cooking then get out of the kitchen!" She scolded him. Jaspert gave her a playful smile and while rubbing the back of his head quietly departed the room.

Alek caught Deryn's eye and smiled at her.

"I think you look wonderful." He complimented her. Deryn blushed prettily and looked down at her feet in embarrassment. One of the aunties gave Alek a wink.

"She does clean up well, doesn't she?" She said to Alek, then turned to talk to Mrs. Sharp. "If you'd like Fiona, we could help you set the dinning room up."

"Excellent." Said Mrs. Sharp. "Deryn could you help Alek with the potatoes, the guests will be here any minute." Without waiting for an answer the three older women left the kitchen leaving Alek and Deryn alone.

She stumbled over to him awkwardly since she was wearing heels and Alek stood to pull out the chair beside him so she could sit down.

"Don't start with that!" She growled. "I'm no different than before. I can take care of myself!" She stomped around to the opposite side and pulled out her own chair.. Alek smiled and returned to his seat.

Nerves bubbled up in his stomach. He needed to tell her something, and soon, but it was awfully difficult with him being so nervous. Deryn didn't seem to notice his fears and picked up a potato to peel while dryly chatting about her day.

"Miserable aunties! They don't even care what I say; it's all about how I look. Thank God we finally found a dress we all agreed on or else I'd have been trapped there all barking night!"

"Dress!" Said Bovril. He leaped off of Alek's shoulder and into Deryn's lap. She scratched his ears while continuing to complain.

"I'm never gonna get it into their thick skulls that…."

"Deryn?"

"That dresses are daft…."

"Deryn!"

"stupid things that should be burned…"

"DERYN!"

She jumped. "AYE ALEK! Barking spiders, you don't need to holler!"

"I'm sorry, but I need to ask you something."

She looked up from the potato and into Alek's eyes. Something like a mix of excitement and confusion was in her face. Alek took a deep breath before continuing with his question.

"Do you…..do you regret what happened at the dungeon? I mean…neither of us was expecting Jaspert to come to the rescue. Had we known he would I'm sure that…um….certain events….um….would not have occurred. Being that what should not have happened did happen, I hate to admit that it puts me in a very awkward situation…..and….what I'm trying to say is…..I don't regret it, Deryn. That is, of course, if you don't….." He was completely making a fool of himself by mumbling and blushing like a loon. To make matters worse Deryn wasn't speaking. Her face had gone pale as she sat and gawked at him.

"What I meant to say is that I am not ashamed by how we behaved but it does complicate things. With you being a young maid at the time and since I was the one to take your virginity, it seems only correct that I must take you as my wife. I know this may seem a bit sudden and I understand if you refuse but I think that I should uphold your honor and…"

"BLOODY HELL! Alek, are you proposing to me?"

Well, it wasn't the exact response he wanted, but at least it was a response.

Deryn pulled her face away from him. She suddenly looked very sad and tired.

"Don't get me wrong, I am honored, but you can't be serious, Alek?"

"Of course I'm serious!"

"No you're not! You can't marry me, remember! I'm common, common as dirt. If a commoner falls in love with you then you have to run a mile, right?"

He was about to say she was wrong but bit his lip because he had indeed said that very thing to her back in Istanbul. The fact that she had brought it up again after all they had been through was very hurtful. It had been before he had known that she was a girl, and therefore it shouldn't count. How dare she say such a thing? Yet on the other hand…

"Are you admitting that you've fallen in love with me?" He grinned.

Deryn's cheeks turned red and her eyes widened.

"What! NO! I'm just repeating what you said!" But Alek could tell he had her.

"Well, what if I've fallen in love with you? Does that mean you have to run a mile?" He said.

She was speechless.

"Think about it, Deryn. I'm not a prince anymore, not really. If I ever appear again in public Churchill will have me imprisoned or possibly killed. I can't go back to my own country and even if I did my Granduncle would try to kill me as well." Nervously he eyed her belly. "Plus there is always the chance that you really are pregnant."

She gaped at him in shock as if she hadn't realized the possibility before, then covered her stomach with her arms and glared at him.

"HUSH! Don't say things like that so loudly you bumrag."

"Well, your family is bound to hear about the trial one of these days. Do you really think Jaspert can keep that to himself? Half of London thinks you're pregnant. If you were to marry me it won't look nearly as bad." He didn't know where all this courage was suddenly coming from. He was elated; delighted that he could finally express his feelings into words. All he needed now was for Deryn to agree to his proposal.

"I don't know, Alek. It's just too good to be true. I'm scared that if I say yes then someone will come and take it away."

"REALLY! I mean, you would say yes?"

She beamed at him. "Of course, you ninny. Can't you tell I'm smitten by you?"

Alek felt his stomach summersault. He realized he should do this properly and pulled out of his chair so he was kneeling on the ground in front of her. The smile was wiped from her face and replaced with terror.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" She fumed.

"Deryn Louise Sharp, I would be privileged if you would do me the honor…"

"STOP THAT! They'll hear you!"

"of being my bride." He held her right hand and pulled out the cameo charm that had been his mother's. "I'm sorry that I don't have the Hapsburg bridal ring, but I do have my mother's necklace. You remember that Elsie had you wear it? And I will remind you that you are speaking much louder than I am so if anyone is going to hear anything in the next room it will be you."

She shut her mouth and nodded frantically. Alek felt tears shake off of her cheeks and onto his own. Silently he draped the necklace over her head and let it drop around her neck. Afterwards he stood up and pulled her to her feet before kissing her gently on the hand. She wiped the tears from her eyes and then laughed.

"You better give me a better kiss than that, Aleksander Ferdinand!"

She didn't have to ask him twice. Standing on tip toe because she was wearing heels, Alek kissed his new fiancé. It was sweet and innocent at first but that soon changed when she wrapped her arm around his neck to pull him closer. Alek groaned and let his fingers trace the line of her jaw and her smooth neck. Deryn's hands were slowly inching their way under his shirt when Alek felt a strong jab of pain between his shoulder blades.

"NOT IN THE BLEEDING KITCHEN!" Mrs. Sharp screeched. The kissing couple quickly pulled apart and Alek turned to see Deryn's mother standing behind him with her wooden spoon right above his head, threatening to hit him again. "Honestly! I leave you two alone for a minute and look what happens. Don't give me that look young lady; I'm sure it was your idea to start with. Now, those potatoes aren't gonna peel themselves! Get on with it!" Alek was deeply ashamed and quickly sat down. He should have known better, but he had let himself get lost in the moment.

"I'm very sorry ma'am." He said softly. To his surprise Mrs. Sharp didn't look at all angry anymore. She even winked at him. "T'sall right son, just try to keep it in your pants until after dinner."

"MOTHER!" Deryn flushed.

"Hush child, get back to work." She was about to turn and leave but suddenly stopped and pointed at Deryn's necklace. "What's that?"

"Proposing!" Said Bovril. Alek snapped his eyes to the floor where Bovril was happily eating potato peelings. Deryn seemed to be thinking the same thing and scooped up the loris before dumping him in her lap and trying to cover its mouth, but it was hopeless.

"Bride!" Bovril cheered. "Pregnant!"

Mrs. Sharp's face turned purple but before she could open her mouth there was a rapping knock on the front door.

Knocking might be a normal act in most households, but not here. At the Sharp's family home people barged in all the time without even bothering to say hello. It was a bit strange at first but now that Alek was used to random entrances it was remarkably odd that anyone would ever think of knocking.

Luckily the knocking had distracted Deryn's mother from Bovril's new vocabulary because she went to go answer the door. When she came back she looked very bewildered and Alek could understand why when he saw the guests enter the kitchen.

It was none other than Count Volger and Dr. Barlow. Behind them, Tazza was sniffing the kitchen floor and licking up crumbs.

"Aleksander, Deryn, it's wonderful to see that you made your trip safely." Barlow chimed. She was grinning profusely and when Alek turned to look at his fencing master he was surprised to see Volger smiling as well. "I have some excellent news. After much discussion and argument, Winston Churchill has agreed to pardon Ms. Sharp of all her charges."

"It took some major arm pulling, or dare I say, severe threatening." Volger added. Alek gulped. There was no doubt in his mind that Volger and Barlow together could be quite a threatening pair.

"You mean, I'm free?" Deryn smiled. "They can't kill me?"

Dr. Barlow shook her head. "No, my dear, they cannot. But there are a few negotiations that had to be made instead. Don't worry; I think you will be quite pleased with them."

"WHAT! What do you mean 'kill'?" Mrs. Sharp was purpling even more. She towered over Volger and the Doctor, her eyes widening. "Who are you people?"  
"I'm sorry, you must be Fiona Sharp." Dr. Barlow said politely. She removed one of her riding gloves to shake the other woman's hand. "I'm Dr. Nora Darwin Barlow, and this is my partner Count Volger."

Alek felt his throat cinch shut. Did she just say _partner_?

"I acquainted myself with Deryn on the _Leviathan _and I assure you, no danger will come to your daughter and you have nothing to worry about."

Mrs. Sharp didn't look the least bit calmer; instead she looked even more nervous.

"Did you say Darwin?" She asked, awestruck.

"That's correct. My grandfather was Dr. Charles Darwin."

"Are you barking serious!" Mrs. Sharp gawked. Volger pushed her aside and made his way to the table

"We also have worked out that Aleksander won't be imprisoned." He mentioned. "Although he will have to live in London from now on."

"Huh? London? What made them decide that?" Alek asked.

"That is one of the negotiations." Said Dr. Barlow. "Alek is still considered a prisoner of the Empire and must follow all orders of the Crown until the end of the war. In consolation he will be staying with Volger and his men at the Royal Hotel in London and allowed free range within the city while under guard. With Aleksander this close to parliament, it will be easier to discuss the ending of this Great War and perhaps collaborate in some sort of peace treaty with the Clanker nations."

Alek had to admit that was loads better than being imprisoned in the Tower of London. He shared a look with Deryn and noticed that she still looked confused.

"What about me? I thought Churchill was set on having me hanged." She asked. Barlow didn't answer right away and instead pulled out a small book from the inside of her jacket.

"Your sketchpad, Ms. Sharp." She said, then walked across the room and handed Deryn the book. "It came quite in handy yesterday when I showed it to the court. They were amazed by your talent and it didn't take much coaxing to change their minds and agree to awarding you a scholarship."

"Scholarship?" Both Deryn and Alek said together.

"That's right." She pulled out something else from her pocket and handed it to Deryn. It was a large envelope sealed with an elaborate wax stamp. Deryn quickly opened it and read the letter inside. Alek couldn't tell if she ever finished reading it because a few seconds after she had first glanced at it she dropped it and began scream.

"Are you barking mad! A full paid scholarship to the University of London!"

Dr. Barlow was beaming. "It won't be eligible until you turn eighteen, but I assure you it is real. I almost cried myself when I saw it. Not many women get the honor of a true education. If you pick the paper back up you'll see that the form is signed by both the headmaster of the University and the King. Honestly Deryn, I don't think there is a better opportunity available."

"But, why?" She didn't pick the paper back up, just stared at the doctor in disbelief.

Barlow shrugged. "Your talent is extraordinary, my dear. And with my recommendation it was hard for the Court to refuse. They are always in need of clever scientists."

"Unfortunately, you will be forced to study that godless biology!" Volger snorted.

"Now, now Vincent. Deryn is perfectly capable of creating amazing fabrications. Have you seen her drawings?" She pulled back the sketchbook and began flipping through the pages. "Amazing renditions of Huxleys, dart bats, the perspicacious loris as well as the hydrogen sniffers. And here I see a few new ideas of fabrications that she made up herself. Completely extraordinary. And if you look closer, I believe you'll make out the workings of your walker contraptions as well as some of those flying machines." Surprised, Volger snatched the book out of her hands and began to look through the sketches. Alek even thought he saw Volger looking a bit impressed.

"She's right." Volger said. "With your knowledge of both the fabrications and the Stormwalkers, you will be a valuable asset to Britain."

Mrs. Sharp gasped. "Now hang on a squick! Are you telling me that my little girl is going to be a boffin?"

"That is the hope, Mrs. Sharp." Dr. Barlow replied. "However, there is one small necessary step before she will be permitted to her scholarship. Since Miss Sharp does not have proper training to prepare her for college, she will need to move to London and start an education immediately. My personal preference is that the girl stays as my assistant at the Royal Zoo."

Mrs. Sharp didn't get a chance to answer because Deryn had jumped over the table and wrapped her arms around Dr. Barlow with a squeal.

"YES YES! I'll be your apprentice! When do we get to go? Is Jaspert coming? Do I have to wear dresses all the time? What do you get to do at the zoo? Are their Huxleys? Do you get to fly often?" She continued to blabber away and the surprised Dr. Barlow gave her a moment before recovering herself and pulling Deryn off of her.

"Well, you certainly won't be wearing trousers, Miss Sharp, you are a woman." She replied. "As for the Huxleys, most of the hydrogen breathers are under my supervision, so I am certain that you will be flying in more than a few of them."

Deryn squealed again and bounced once again into the woman's arms. Dr. Barlow didn't look at all happy, especially when Bovril jumped on her as well and began making noises that sounded like Tazza barking. This in turn made Tazza bark and jump.

Mrs. Sharp called an end to it by yanking her daughter up in one arm pushing the doctor away with the other.

"Do you really think I'm going to let you take my child away from me right after she just got home! I'll have you know that Deryn is only fourteen. When I was her age I was milking cows and learning to bake let alone joining the Navy and flying all over the world." She set her daughter down and gave her a stern look.

"But MA!"

"If you go running off to some school for eight years how do you expect to get along in life? Are you going to find some sort of husband at this zoo? Who's going to take care of you if you never get married?"

Deryn gave a mischievous grin and glanced over to Alek.

"I think I'll be able to handle that problem much easier than you think." She said.

Alek groaned with embarrassment. This was going to take some explaining.

"Barking Spiders!" Said Bovril, bursting into giggles. Alek gave the Loris an angry glare. Barking spiders indeed.

**END**

* * *

**DISCLAIMER: I am not Scott Westerfeld, although I may pretend to be at times. This time being one of them.**

**afterward**

There are many things in this story that took a bit of research to figure out. I think you, the reader, deserves to hear about them if you so choose.

Firstly, I want to make it clear that it was very difficult for me, being Jewish, not to see the Clankers as the future Nazi Regime. This does not mean that I think Alek and his men are Nazis, because that would be awful. (In fact I've heard that the Hapsburgs were publicly against Hitler). Instead, I thought that this was a good opportunity to show how the Germans and Austrians started toward their Nazi beliefs. This was the main reason I added Elsie and her back story to the fic. Elsie's mother is Jewish and married her father who was not Jewish. Truthfully, intermarriage between Jews and nonjews was becoming much more common than ever before, especially after and during the first world war. There were many people who were not okay with this. Intermarriage was considered blasphemy and later led to beliefs such as poisoning the future children of Germany with nonGerman blood. This in turn would be one of the pulls Hitler would use to blame Germany's downfall on the Jews and use them as a scapegoat. I wanted to point out that these thoughts of intermarriage were quite common, especially in people like Volger who were very traditional. Not saying that Volger was a Nazi, but that his antisemitic beliefs were quite common for the time and would later lead to nastier things. Also, I added the idea of Elsie escaping back to Germany at the end of the story. You may recall that she returned to her homeland eventhough she was treated poorly there because of her religion. In fact, many Jewish people could have left Germany and the surrounding countries ahead of time before things got worse. Many did, and many did not and chose to stay in their homelands and dwell with the antisemitism. I thought it would be a nice touch to have Elsie go back to Germany but Deryn would have negative thoughts about her doing so, as if Deryn knew something bad would happen. Let's just say that if Elsie did make it home and stayed there until the next war, her future would not be so bright.

On that cheerful note I will step off of my soap box and stop lecturing.

Second Fact: Tsingtao, or Qingdao as it's called in Chinese, was a German Naval Base from 1898 until 1914 when it was attacked by the British and seceded to the Japanese as a consolation for them to join the war. Today, Qingdao is a large prosperous Chinese port city.

Also, Emperor Taisho was the Emperor of Japan during the first world war. He was born with Cerebral Meningitis and suffered from neurological disorders for the rest of his life. He seldom was seen in public appearances because it was so difficult for him to speak and perform. He was never hooked to a fabrication, but, why not?

As for Winston Churchill, he was the Prime Minister of Britain during WWII and the First Lord of Admiralty during WWI. He also was a very controversial man. He sponsored the Gallipoli Campaign to try to take over the Ottoman Empire, which failed and killed many. He's also known for changing the pound from silver to gold and therefore deflating the economy of the UK during the 1920s. But, he was one of the first to warn others about Hitler and opposed Hitler when most of Europe would not.

The _Goliath _was another clue about WWII, although a bit more of a stretch. I tried to use it as a similarity to the atomic bomb. Instead of having Japan as the victim, I switched it and made them create the bomb. It was pretty much the same idea, a powerful weapon that couldn't be defeated by the enemy, thousands of innocent people being sacrificed for the sake of less war, and a highly controversial case that is still being argued today. Should the United States have dropped the bomb om Hiroshima? Was the reward worth the sacrifice? You can argue both sides, undoubtedly.

I realize now that I have been chewing your ear off for about five thousand words and I really appreciate that you have given your time to read this! Thankyou so much! I am already working on another story that is equally as exciting.

cheers!


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